Stages of the Loss, Translation as Contamination: How The Ritual Made It to the Royal National Theatre, London

Abstract

This article focuses on the practice of translating Brazilian playwright Samir Yazbek's play The Ritual for the Royal National Theatre, as part of its 2012 Connections season. The article charts the course of the translation through its different stages, and through the different drafts of the play as they emerged, and examines the way in which translation itself can become a mediator for dramaturgical support, development, enquiry and critique. Through an interrogation not only of what is retained by the playwright, but also of what ultimately falls by the wayside, what is lost, I examine the peculiarly British notion of ‘workshopping’ new writing, in its linguistic mediated form of translation, and the role of the translator as cultural mediator. Ultimately, the article points towards an international economy of playwriting products where translation becomes a means of mediating cultures through particular and specific frames that remain largely unchallenged.