The Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute invites you to get acquainted with its new Polish publication entitled “Przewodnik po tłumaczeniach teatralnych. O jednym z najważniejszych aspektów teatru w obiegu międzynarodowym” (Theatre Translation Handbook. A Brief Insight into a Central Discipline of International Theatre). The handbook is the result of international cooperation of experts and is available for free on the Institute website. It was translated into Polish by Magdalena Szwedowska and edited by Krystyna Mogilnicka.
The publication covers various aspects of translating for the theatre and serves as an introduction to the subject. It addresses practical topics, such as copyright, remuneration, and funding, as well as more specific topics, including theatre translation semiotics and features useful examples from different language areas. It aims to support the younger generation of translators by providing fundamental information about the work of theatre translators and the work environment in the CEE region and beyond.
The handbook will provide non-translators with an insight into literary translation, which plays a major role in the translation of dramatic texts. Along with the subtitles developed for plays presented in a foreign language, the translation of dramas is crucial to disseminating international theatre.
The author of the handbook (Barbora Schnelle), the co-authors (Anna Halas and Zuzanna Augustová), and the editors address the artistic process and the aspects of cultural translation that constitute the uniqueness of translations. This is a crucial issue, especially in the age of artificial intelligence and the increasingly popular utilisation of machine translation.
“International theatre is unthinkable without the work of theatre translators, who are usually leading experts in the theatre culture of the language area they deal with. Through their translations, they convey dramatic literature as a literary work, but also as part of a particular theatre tradition, with a specific aesthetic and cultural-political context, which is connected to the practice of theatre as a living organism with all the components
of theatrical synthesis”. – “Theatre Translation Handbook”, p. 5.
The handbook was developed as part of the Drama Revival international project supporting creating, translating and disseminating new dramas by playwrights from Central and Eastern Europe. The publication is the result of collaboration of partners from nine countries, namely Poland (Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute), Armenia (Tech Degh), Croatia (Croatian ITI Centre), Estonia (Estonian Theatre Agency), Georgia (Ilia State University), Germany (Drama Panorama), Slovakia (Theatre Institute), Ukraine (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the National Association of Theatre Artists), and the Czech Republic (Arts and Theatre Institute / project leader).
The English-language version of the handbook is entitled “Theatre Translation Handbook. A Brief Inside into a Central Discipline of International Theatre” was released in the autumn of 2024 and is also available for free on the Institute’s website.
On 15 January at 18:00, a meeting entitled Drama. So what? Theatre Translation will be held at the Theatre Institute as part of the “Books at the Theatre” series dedicated to translating for the theatre. At the meeting, Krystyna Mogilnicka, the editor of the Polish-language edition of the “Theatre Translation Handbook”, will present the publication and discuss the topic of theatre translation with experts in the field, i.e. Tadeusz Nyczek, Piotr Olkusz, Małgorzata Semil, and Elżbieta Zimna. Free admission. For more information about the event, see here.
“Przewodnik po tłumaczeniach teatralnych. O jednym z najważniejszych aspektów teatru w obiegu międzynarodowym”
Author: Barbora Schnelle
Co-authors: Anna Halas, Zuzana Augustová
Editor of the original version: Martina Pecková Černá
Contributing editors of the original version: Karolína Stehlíková, Viktor Debnár, Michal Zahálka, Krystyna Mogilnicka, Becka McFadden, Ivan Lacko
First published as “Theatre Translation Handbook. A Brief Insight into a Central Discipline of International Theatre” by Arts and Theatre Institute, 2024 // www.idu.cz
Editor of the Polish version: Krystyna Mogilnicka
Translated from English by: Magdalena Szwedowska
Contributing editor: Karolina Dziełak-Żakowska
Proofreading: Monika Krawul
Layout and graphic design: Jan Karhan
© 2024 Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute
ISBN 978-83-67682-63-3
