Description
Translating pain in theatre plays
For centuries, theatrical plays have been an integral cultural component of Western civili¬za¬tion. By definition, tragedy is about human suffering. Characters show a range of powerful emotions, experiencing physical and/or emotional pain. A question arising is what happens to manifestations of pain, when drama is translated with a view to be performed on stage. The hypothesis is that translators adapting the story to the needs of a theatrical audience domesticate the manifestations of pain. Although emotion and suffering has been researched in linguistics, it has not been integrated into translation studies; it remains a topic that can provide useful insights to a cross-cultural analysis of pain and its varied manifestations. The study takes a qualitative approach using tragedy transla¬tion. Findings show that domestication is the translation strategy rendering expressions of pain. The significance of this work lies in its attempt to shed light on transferring emotions for the theater and the therapeutic aspects of it. It also hopes to contribute to initiating a critical and interesting academic discussion in this area of research. Keywords: theater, translation, pain, emotion, domestication.
