The role of “literal translation” in collaborative theatre practice: translating <i>Farewell My Concubine </i>

It does so through reference to an extended case study of a specific play, <i>Farewell My Concubine [Ba Wang Bie Ji]</i>, which presents and analyses my own literal translation of <i>Farewell My Concubine</i>, and in doing so advances a conception of the translator as an informant (or explication provider) with, in this case, specialist knowledge of literary Chinese, Chinese culture, and Peking Opera.

The objective of the thesis derives from what is generally recognised as the challenges of translating Peking Opera conventions for successful performance on the Anglophone stage, and accordingly proposes a solution that is both theoretical and practice-based. By setting the practice of literal translation within a more broadly theoretical context that acknowledges its contested status, and by drawing upon Anglophone theatre professionals’ feedback on the usefulness of this particular literal translation in terms of supporting a professional-level production, this thesis broadens our understanding of literal translation as collaborative theatre practice geared towards performance production, enabling a Peking Opera playtext to travel through time and space as a living piece of theatre which the subsequent adaptor can prepare for stage production while, at the same time, ensuring that the play in question retains as much of its original characteristics as possible.