The Translation

Translations offer access. They can, at times, foster misunderstandings. They influence our points of view in everyday life, politics and culture and can shape how we interpret the world. In any case, the power of translation should not be underestimated. Many theatres are currently discussing how to use translations to create more inclusive spaces for dialogue. However, they frequently lack the resources to artistically integrate simultaneous translations, sign language or audio descriptions at the start of the working process. Translations added as an afterthought often come across as an “addition” to “normal” language. They seem alien to the performance and can even cause confusion among the various target groups.

For their latest performance project, the theatre collective vorschlag:hammer makes translating itself the aesthetic principle of artistic practice. Together with the Iranian actor and translator Khosrou Mahmoudi, foreign language and sign language translators, and the sound artist Sebastian Kunas, vorschlag:hammer presents “The Translation” to explore how audiences perceive spoken language, what happens when language is translated repeatedly, and how a sensual theatre experience can be translated (if at all). There are multiple ways to perceive language, sound, body and space, and likewise, a heterogenous audience can experience one and the same theatre piece in very different ways. In the performance, the events on stage, sign language, spoken German and Persian and live electronic music will merge to form an aesthetic space which no audience member will be able to comprehend in its entirety. A standard interpretation of its meaning will thus be rendered impossible.

“The Translation” is being jointly produced by the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, the Center for Literature – Burg Hülshoff, the Ballhaus Ost in Berlin and ROXY Birsfelden in Switzerland, and will be staged at these same venues starting at the end of 2023 as a “relaxed performance”.

Project director/performance: Stephan Stock
Artistic directors: Gesine Hohmann, Kristofer Gudmundsson
Participants: Khosrou Mahmoudi, Sebastian Kunas

Performances: Ringlockschuppen Ruhr, Mühlheim an der Ruhr: 24 – 25 Nov. 2023; Center for Literature, Münster: 28 – 29 Oct. 2023; Ballhaus Ost, Berlin: 11 – 15 Dec. 2023; Roxy, Birsfelden/Basel: 22 – 28 Jan. 2024