Translation Of Theatricality In Dramatic Texts

The study of drama translation is a comparatively less explored area characterized by a serious lack of guiding theory both at home and abroad. Even worse is the situation in China where drama is often translated for literary appreciation or research, and the theories on how to decode the special properties of drama in translation is scarce. The special properties of drama refer to its essentials that distinguish it as a unique form of art. It is a well-known fact that drama has two lives: one exists on the page as a branch of literature; the other exists on the stage as a performing art. As one of the oldest and most important literary genres, drama is regarded as a verbal art; as an artistic form rendered on the stage, it is a performing art. It is the duality of drama that gives people diverse understanding of theatricality-the essential qualities of drama, and brings on different views on how to translate theatricalities in dramatic texts. Dramatic theatricality and its translation pay attention to the literary aspects of drama, such as context, conflict, action and so forth, while theatrical theatricality and its translation attach great importance to the requirements for stage performance. The present paper sets out to analyze the essentials of drama both on the page and on the stage, and then illustrates how to decode theatricalities in translation with the examples extracted from the three translated versions of the Shavian play Pygmalion; meanwhile, several principles of drama translation on theatricality in dramatic texts are recommended.