TRANSLATING DRAMA: ANALYSIS OF DAVID EDGAR’S PLAY “ TESTING THE ECHO”

Abstract

The article focuses on one of the problems of literary translation - the translation of dramatic texts. The article examines this type of texts in terms of the specificity of the genre and type of literature, their structural and other specific characteristics. Special attention is given to existing approaches to the development of translation strategies in drama. Different approaches to dramatic texts in linguistics and translation studies are analyzed, such as communicative, cultural, and hermeneutic ones. The play of the contemporary British writer David Edgar “Testing the Echo” was selected for a detailed pre-translation analysis, identification and solution of the most significant translation problems. The choice of the play was determined by the presence of complex culture-specific situations (interesting from the point of view of translation), the unusual principle of plot construction, as well as the lack of a translated version of the play. A detailed analysis of the play is preceded by the summary of the plot and some information about the main characters. The paper discusses the most “problematic” extracts from the translation point of view, accounts for translation decisions and lists some of the transformations that had to be resorted to in the process of translating. As a result, a conclusion is made that translation of drama has an interdisciplinary character, involving both theatrical and literary issues. Thus, the most effective strategy of translating drama is a combination of concretization and adaptation.