Should Translators of New Plays be Honored with the Tony Award?

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 11/5/18 at 11:17am

I was on one of my trips down the IBDB rabbit hole, and I saw that when Yasmina Reza's plays 'Art' and God of Carnage won the Tony's for Best Play in 1998 and 2009, she received the award, but her translator Christopher Hampton wasn't recognized. However, Herbert Kretzmer received recognition for his English lyrics for Les Miserables in 1987. Translators do the job of both rewriting the work in English, but reworking the text to suit American vernacular. Do they also deserve credit when the plays win awards?

[Kad]

Posted: 11/5/18 at 11:38am

Absolutely, just as someone who adapts a novel into a play should be honored. A translation is an adaptation of the original text from one cultural background to another. And it's even more difficult with lyrics, in which  translators bend over backwards to make rhymes work while still preserving the intent.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 11/5/18 at 12:32pm

Yes! Imagine Les Mis and Saigon if it was still in French?

Richard Nelson wrote a really interesting piece for the NYTimes in September about translating plays (in this case, the Uncle Vanya he did at the Old Globe/Hunter College) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/theater/uncle-vanya-translation-hunter-project.html