A Web Archive of Theatre Translation Resources

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This project will address the issue of under-representation of cultural difference in the British secondary school Drama curriculum by creating an open-access educational website of video resources to engage secondary school children with foreign-language plays. By targeting young Drama students and their teachers we will train future theatre-makers and audiences to appreciate stories from diverse contexts and empathise with culturally distant others.About 22% of the UK population in 2015 was either born abroad or a foreign citizen, however only about 3.8% of plays in British theatres every year are originally written in a language other than English and the British secondary school Drama curriculum does little to include non-English/non-British material for students to engage with linguistic and cultural diversity through theatre. This alarming representation gap must be addressed and supporting teachers in choosing plays in translation would be an effective way to change the status quo. Reducing the representation gap between curriculum requirements, students' cultural backgrounds and availability of teaching resources is even more pressing when we think about international/British schools overseas offering CGSEs, A-Levels, BTEC and IB qualifications in Drama to a multicultural, multilingual and multiracial student body. From my extensive consultation period with over twenty teachers working in the UK and overseas, I have concluded that there is a clear intellectual and academic gap, and an urgent ethical call, to expand education resources in this area to foster dialogue on cultural and linguistic difference in English-speaking schools offering Drama both as an assessed subject and/or as an enrichment activity.The project builds on the research and expertise acquired through my award-winning AHRC Leadership Fellowship - entitled 'Translation, Adaptation, Otherness: "Foreignisation" in Theatre Practice' - focusing on the representation of cultural and linguistic difference in theatre translation. Investigating the reasons behind the disappointing number of translations in British theatre repertoires, the PI identified secondary school Drama education as a potential area of impact to foster more engagement with, and representation of, cultural and linguistic difference on English-speaking stages in the future. Increasing representation of non-English languages and culture on English-speaking stages is of paramount importance to foster understanding among communities in multicultural societies, such as the UK, but also in the US, where translations of foreign-language texts tend to be rare and immigration high. Included in the website will be newly commissioned filmed extracts of five plays in the original language and two English translations, in order to highlight how translation strategies can have an impact on the production. The videos will be entirely new and curated for the project, featuring a professional cast. We will also produce and include on the website: film interviews with key practitioners working in the field; extensive contextualisations of the plays by academics and theatre-makers; and teaching resources clarifying how to integrate the resource into the GCSE, A-Level, BTEC and IB curricula. Collaborating with far-reaching theatre organisations such as the Gate, London, which has been keen a champion of theatre translation, and the Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury, a venue which focuses on young people, the project will create accessible educational resources for pupils to engage with foreign-language plays i as investigated in the PI's Fellowship project. The Project's Advisory Board includes five Heads of Drama working in secondary schools in England and theatre managers from the Gate, the Gulbenkian and the Royal Court Theatre. We will employ experienced academics and teachers to deliver the resources.These resources will encourage long-term mind shifts and internationalisation.