Contested Heterotopias: Translation Technologies in Post-Devolution Welsh-Language Drama

Gareth Llŷr Evans

doi:10.1515/jcde-2024-2022

Article

Contested Heterotopias: Translation Technologies in Post-Devolution Welsh-Language Drama

Gareth Llŷr Evans
is a Lecturer in theatre and performance at the Department of Theatre, Film, and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University. He holds a PhD (Aberystwyth, 2012) for a study that examined the emergence of postdramatic aesthetics within Welsh-language performance. His research focusses primarily on contemporary theatre in Wales and the work of the playwright Aled Jones Williams. He is currently working on a project that examines convergences between performance criticism, notions of expertise, and radical democracy. Since 2018, he has been a theatre critic for The Guardian reviewing performances in Wales but also across the UK and internationally.

Published/Copyright: October 1, 2024

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From the journal Journal of Contemporary Drama in English Volume 12 Issue 2

Abstract

This article examines the use of English-language surtitles within Welsh-language performances, aiming to consider their potential impact for a minority-language theatre culture. Having been utilised with increasing frequency over the past decade, their prominence signals an overdue and welcome attempt to expand audiences and to increase access for Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking audiences alike. Their use is a fairly recent development within the relatively brief history of Welsh-language theatre. Therefore, the study examines their presence in relation to the preceding century and a half and considers how the visual inclusion of English-language text within a Welsh-language mise en scène signals a subtle but potentially substantial interruption to what has historically been the function of the Welsh-language theatrical event. Prior to the use of translation technologies, Welsh-language drama could be performed for a presumed Welsh-language audience with the tacit assumption its linguistic text could be comprehended by all in attendance. This might no longer be the case. But by considering the presence of surtitles as dramaturgical material, the study will consider what the implications of their inclusion might be for a constituent audience that has no need for an English-language translation.

Keywords: Wales; Welshness; surtitles; translation; bilingualism; minority language; heterotopia; national theatres; post-devolution; Cymraeg 2050 ; Meic Povey; Fel Anifail ; Phoebe Waller-Bridge; Branwen Davies; Fleabag ; James Daf; Tylwyth ; Nia Morais; Imrie

About the author

Gareth Llŷr Evans

is a Lecturer in theatre and performance at the Department of Theatre, Film, and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University. He holds a PhD (Aberystwyth, 2012) for a study that examined the emergence of postdramatic aesthetics within Welsh-language performance. His research focusses primarily on contemporary theatre in Wales and the work of the playwright Aled Jones Williams. He is currently working on a project that examines convergences between performance criticism, notions of expertise, and radical democracy. Since 2018, he has been a theatre critic for The Guardian reviewing performances in Wales but also across the UK and internationally.

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Published Online: 2024-10-01

Published in Print: 2024-09-30

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2024-2022

Keywords for this article

Wales; Welshness; surtitles; translation; bilingualism; minority language; heterotopia; national theatres; post-devolution; Cymraeg 2050; Meic Povey; Fel Anifail; Phoebe Waller-Bridge; Branwen Davies; Fleabag; James Daf; Tylwyth; Nia Morais; Imrie