Translation and Amateur Theatre: Concepts of a Practical Research

Abstract

In this article, we present the theoretical dimension of a doctoral research in Translation Studies, whose project was the translation practice within an amateur theater group, whose members were students and workers living in Florianópolis, SC, between 2018 and 2019. The main question that guided the research was: what is the role of a translator in an amateur theater group? This question is related to others, for example: which contributions does translation work give to an amateur theater group? What are the conflicts and negotiations that take place between translator and theater group? To what extent does the group participate in the translation work? These questions allow us to reflect and discuss translation in general, translation for theater and – here is the main objective of that doctoral research –, it allows us to reflect about translator's agency. In this article, we mainly talk about the concepts of amateur theater, theater translation, interventionism and patronage, based on translation researchers such as Lefevere (1992), Aaltonen (2000), and Simon (2005). The article is divided into two parts: firstly, we present the concepts of amateur theater and translation for theater; secondly, we approach the concepts of interventionism and patronage, presenting references and contributions from the research that resulted in a doctoral thesis. Finally, some answers are provided. Throughout the article, other concepts appear that dialogue with those concepts identified here as the main ones, since they guide the discussion about translator's agency.