A Report On The E-C Theatre Translation Of Ballyturk From The Perspective Of Ying Ruocheng’s Theatre Translation Theory

This report is based on the translation practice of the play Ballyturk created by contemporary Irish playwright Enda Walsh in 2014.Ballyturk,which won the two drama awards voted by The Guardian and The Irish Times,showcased Enda Walsh’s black humor through grotesque actions and language,with unique text features,concise language and strong actions,and revealed the theme of life passing in the absurd performance.The characters’ unreasonable actions,absurd conversations,and profound topics about life and death,coupled with their strange images and novel stage designs,all give the spectators a grotesque sense of novelty.As a rare contemporary absurdist theatre,a close examination of Ballyturk has profound implications for contemporary Irish theatre research and performance,but it has not yet been translated into Chinese.Authorized by the agency of Enda Walsh and Ballyturk,Curtis Brown Group Ltd,the author has carried out the translation practice of Ballyturk.The theoretical framework employed in this report is the theatre translation theory developed by Ying Ruocheng,a renowned theatre "practitioner".According to this theory,the fundamental elements of theatre translation are "catchiness","gestus",and"individuality",which should be given priority in the translation process.Consequently,this report examines translation cases in relation to these three aspects and summarizes the following fundamental approaches based on the analysis.In respect of "catchiness",translators should be concerned with the flexible usage of "living language" and "crisp language".This can be achieved by employing rhythmic four-character words,reduplicated words,Chinese idioms with oral features,as well as "tenons" that can increase the interactivity between lines.To enhance the principle of "gestus",the author suggests that translators inspire the actors’ gestures by adding more verbs to their lines.Moreover,translators could also render common prepositions,adjectives,and nouns in English into verbs,in accordance with the general feature that English tends to rely more on prepositions and nouns,while Chinese rely on verbs.In terms of"individuality",modal particles should be added to reinforce the characters’ different personalities.In addition,in translating the lines of rude characters,four-letter words can be employed to match the characters’ personalities.Enda Walsh has already gained recognition and acclaim in both Europe and America.However,his works have not been widely translated and introduced to Chinese audiences.Therefore,this report aims to contribute to the advancement of the study of Walsh and his works.Ying Ruocheng,a multifaceted artist who excels in the domains of direction,acting,and translation,has formulated a remarkably pragmatic theory of theatre translation.His unique identity affords him a distinctive perspective,which underscores the principle of "performability".This principle resonates harmoniously with the succinct language and action-oriented tenor of Ballyturk,while also aligning with the contemporary theatre’s accentuation of performance.Therefore,the theory has become an indispensable guiding principle for domestic translations of dramatic works.Ying Ruocheng’s theatre translation theory is employed as a guide for the translation of Ballyturk,with a view to providing some reference and inspiration for future theatre translation practice.