Brian Friel’s Translations: Could Something Be Lost in Translation?
How much does cultural identity depend on language? No, this question is not sparked by Justin Trudeau’s recent musings about Quebec separation. It is about the theme at the heart of Brian Friel’s 1980 play Translations.
Set in the fictional village of Baile Beag, Ireland, in 1833, this ensemble drama can be taken at many levels — as a social history of hedge schools, the recounting of historical events shortly before the potato famine when British soldiers did create an ordnance survey map bearing anglicized place names, a description of Ireland’s transformation from rural Gaelic society to colonial nation, an attack on colonialism, a love story or a murder mystery (without a definitive answer), or a metaphor for communication..
Take it as you will, but Friel has said that Translations is “a play about language and only about language.”
So it begins with Manus, the schoolmaster’s handicapped younger son teaching a mute, Sarah, to say her name, rather than rely on the language of signs and gestures only. The alcoholic village schoolmaster and his oldest student, Jimmy Jack, reminisce in Latin and Greek and the generally unilingual class speak Irish Gaelic. The English soldiers, also unilingual, speak only English, aided by the schoolmaster’s older (prodigal) son, Owen, back in the village to act as interpreter and assist with the renaming on the map. It is left to Irish student Maire and English Lieutenant Yolland to bridge the language barrier by falling in love.
The crossfire of language is Friel’s means of highlighting the issues of linguistic, cultural and generational communication and miscommuniation, as people from both cultures try to adjust th a changing world. (As the schoolmaster points out regretfully, words are not immortal and may not always match the current landscape.)
In the Ottawa Little Theatre/Tara Players production, director Klaas van Weringh follows the convention suggested by Friel that makes the two linguistic groups incomprehensible to each other, although both are speaking English (for the audience’s sake). Why then, does he have one character — young English Lieutenant Yolland (Kirk Morrison) speak in over-pronounced English rather than let the cadence of language carry his words? Concentration on the forced accent hampers Morrison’s characterization, as does his hairstyle. (How about a wig or flattering haircut?)
The strongest performance comes from Emily Walsh as Maire, the centre of the love triangle with Yolland and Manus. Conrad McCallum and Lawrence Aronovitch, as brothers Manus and Owen, and Dan Baran, as their schoolmaster father, deliver solid performances with good backup from the rest of the cast.
An evocative set by Robin Riddihough, fine lighting by John Solman and appropriate costuming by Peggy Laverty complete the picture.
But, perhaps inevitably, the overwhelming aftertaste of Translations is a trail of depression. Could something be lost in translation?
Translations continues at Ottawa Little Theatre to March 3, 2012.
Translations
an Ottawa Little Theatre/Tara Players production
By Brian Friel
Director: Klaas van Weringh
Design: Robin Riddihough
Lighting: John Solman
Sound: James Watson
Costumes: Peggy Laverty
Cast:
Manus……………………………………………Conrad McCallum
Sarah……………………………………………..Katie Buller
Jimmy Jack………………………………………Allan Meltzer
Maire……………………………………………..Emily Walsh
Doalty…………………………………………….Aidan Dewhirst
Bridget……………………………………………Amaru Mariel Anderson
Hugh………………………………………………Dan Baran
Owen…………………………………………..….Lawrence Aronovitch
Captain Lancey……………………………………Geoffrey Wale
Lieutenant Yolland………………………………..Kirk Morrison