Istanbul, not Constantinople

In meeting with the wonderful artist/scholar Laura Ruby today, we were talking about how the Hawaiians, once exposed to the concept of literacy by the missionaries, set about very quickly to write down their legends, stories, and practices in Hawaiian, and that written Hawaiian became an important means of cultural transmission in the mid-1800s. It wasn't until quite a bit later that English began to supercede Hawaiian.

I found a poem fragment today in an article on Friel:

from "Mise Eire" by Eevan Boland

a new language
is a kind of scar
and heals after a while
into a passable imitation
of what went before.

Outside History. New York: Norton, 1990. 78-79, qtd. in "It's the Same Me, Isn't It?': The Language Question and Brian Friel's Translations". By: Baker, Charles, Midwest Quarterly, Spring 2000 (41.3).

Translations Audition Information

Casting 3-4 Women, 6-7 Men
for
Translations by Brian Friel
Premiere: 1980, Field Day Theater in Derry

Performances Jan. 21-25. 2009
Earle Ernst Lab Theatre
Director Lurana Donnels O’Malley
Set Designer: Melissa Cozza
Costume Designer: Hannah Schauer
Music Director Sean T.C. O’Malley
Other designers TBA

• Scripts are now available in the Theatre and Dance departmental office for checkout.
• Auditions will be held concurrently with Macbeth auditions, in early September 2008.


DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The play, by one of Ireland’s most celebrated playwrights, is a meditation on colonialism and language. Set in 1833, it treats the events in the small Irish village of Baile Beag surrounding the arrival of British mapmakers. The Anglicizing of the names of each river, village, and local site foreshadows the loss of the Irish language, and therefore its culture.

This production is indeed a special project to me in many ways. Of Irish heritage myself, I had read Translations many years ago, and was deeply moved by its evocation of a culture on the brink of extinction. In 1991, I moved to Hawai’i, and as I learned about the losses to Hawaiian language and culture due to the forces of Western economic and cultural imperialism, Friel’s play has much to say to today’s Hawai’i.

This is a Page to Stage production, so will have educational materials, as well as lectures by visiting Irish Studies scholar Susan Cannon Harris from Notre Dame, and a panel featuring local experts.

Casting notes:
You CAN be in Little Snow Fox or Macbeth and do Translations.
You CAN’T be in Sumida River (Noh) or Snow Day and do Translations.

Translations Characters
3-4 Women, 6-7 Men

MANUS Oldest son of Hugh, intense. Lame.

SARAH Teenager. Speech defect.

JIMMY JACK Older bachelor. Fluent in Latin and Greek. He never washes.
MAIRE Young woman, strong-bodied

DOALTY Young man, open-hearted, generous, and slightly thick

BRIDGET Young Woman, ready to laugh, vain

HUGH. Older man with residual dignity, shabbily dressed.
NOTE: Possible cross-casting with female actor.

OWEN dressed smartly, charming, city man

CAPTAIN LANCEY Crsip officer

Lt. YOLLAND Young man, shy, awkward

Audition Information

• Actors of all ethnicities (not just Irish!) considered for all roles.
• In keeping with Friel’s convention of using English as the language for all characters, I do not currently plan to employ Irish or British accents for the roles.
• Cast members will meet with the director for one-on-one character development rehearsals during the weekdays in October.
• Full rehearsals will begin Nov. 24.
• NO REHEARSALS Dec. 20-28. Rehearsals will resume Dec. 29.
• More audition information to follow.
Questions? Contact the director at omalley@hawaii.edu

translation revelation

I had the chance to meet with Marty Myers's Theatre Management class; they were writing sample press releases, using Translations as their example, so they were interviewing me. They had a lot of good questions to ask about my directorial vision, the history of Ireland, the connection to Hawaii, etc. It made me even more resolved to provide this production with a lot of educational material for audiences, via web, printed guide, program, lectures, etc.

One of the students noted that I am in fact a translator (I translated 2 Russian plays by Catherine the Great from Russian to English several years ago). It amused me greatly that it had never occurred to me that I had that hands-on translation experience.

Some students seemed concerned that an audience might not "get" the convention of some characters speaking Irish, some speaking English. But I think it will all be clear in the acting, I have no concerns there.

We were using the phrase Lost in Translation, that might be a usable catch-phrase for the show, thanks Sofia Coppola.

thoughts, a million

One of my favorite language observations in Ireland was noticing that when they say "thanks a million," there's a comma between the "thanks" and the "a million."

My mind is abuzz with plans for the play and for all the surrounding events I have in mind. Paul Mitri and I have each been writing grants, and we're hoping to get Susan Cannon Harris from Notre Dame to come out to do two lectures and a pre-show chat. She's a specialist in Irish drama, and knows Friel and the play well. I've also got an amazing panel of experts lined up for a pre-show discussion: Peter Hoffenberg (History), Laura Lyons (English), John Kearns (Classics), and Tammy Hailiopua Baker (Hawaiian Language). Plus I'm seeking funding for an audience guide to the play, with all of the above contributing.

Plus I have a lead on a fiddle player.

Plus I'm working with Jan Fried at KCC to have ASL translation EACH night.

Plus I've asked Jon Osorio to write an opening chant in Hawaiian.

I'm hoping to find a student to choreograph an Irish folk dance at the top of Act II.

thoughts, a million

joie de vivre

For reasons unrelated to Translations, I'm doing some research in the "Negro Units" of the Federal Theatre Projects. In E. Quita Craig's book Black Drama of the Federal Theatre Era, she discusses, among other things, the West Indian influence on black playwriting in the 1930s. And in a discussion of religious expression in the Caribbean, she says "In contrast to Christianity, the entire orientation of these religions is toward joy, gaiety, and the fullest expression of life, and this religious joie de vivre dominates the outlook of the black island populations" (p. 141).

There were 18th century laws in America against slaves gathering to dance.
The missionaries suppressed hula in Hawaii the 19th century.

I'm thinking about the local dance in Baile Beag that Lieutenant Yolland leaves with Maire. I would love the music to convey that sense of joy and the fullest expression of life.

pidgin translation by Ruby at beach

We were on the Leeward side of the island almost to the northwest tip, playing in a tidepool, trying to catch fish in a little handheld net. A little boy ran up to us and said, "I know where you can get planny fish." And my husband Sean and I, who pride ourselves on knowing a good amount of pidgin (Sean's written pidgin-speaking characters in his plays and we have the pidgin dictionary!), looked at him blankly, asking, "What kind of fish?" "Planny fish!" "What kind of fish is that?," we kept asking. Finally, our six-year-old daughter Ruby translated for us. "He means he knows where there are a lot of fish." Thanks, Ruby.

Sign

We were in Ireland in 1999. More on that later. All of the signs in the Republic of Ireland are in both Irish and English (why don't we do this in Hawaii? signs in Hawaiian I mean). But as we got to the west coast and further north, we saw a few signs with the English crossed out: