Abstract

This thesis is dedicated to theatre translation. The main aspects of my research are: the relationship between the translated text and the final production and the similarities which exist between the tasks of the translator and the actor in the process of creation of the theatre text and the final production. I intend to prove that the translator's/actor's erudition, creative project and horizon, and the perception of the target audience often dictate changes performed in the theatre text, which can to some extent reflect the political and social situation of the target society. To illustrate my ideas, I will use the musical "Cabaret" as the corpus of my research. I will analyze its different versions in the source country: America and then in two target societies: Germany and Quebec. Using the English and the German texts, I will prove that in the practice of the modern theatre the actor's influence on the original and translated texts can be quite significant and at the same time justified by his (or her) contextual knowledge, project and awareness of his (or her) target audience. I will also insist on the importance of the understanding of the particularity of the theatre text as opposed to the non-theatre one, because the "oral publication" of the text, that is the theatre production dictates different laws of analysis and perception.