Lesson Overview:
In this lesson students will examine the important role translation plays in interpreting the dramatic literature and theater of the ancient Greeks. Students will read, rehearse, and perform a short passage from four different translations of the
Greek tragedy, Hecuba, and compare and contrast the dramatic impact of each.
Length of Lesson:
Two 45-minute class periods
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- prepare and present and informal dramatic scene.
- articulate and justify personal aesthetic criteria for critiquing dramatic texts.
- be able to compare multiple interpretations of visual and aural productions.
- analyze, compare, and evaluate differing interpretations of the same dramatic texts and performances.
Supplies:
- Copies of several different translations of Hecuba
- Copy of scene from Hecuba in Greek
Instructional Plan:
Tell your students that you are going to do a scene from an ancient Greek play by the ancient Greek playwright, Euripides.
Discuss who Euripides was. You can find information at the Euripides Web site. Continue this discussion by referring to the ARTSEDGE lesson, Greek Theater. To gain a better understanding of the theater at this time in history discuss some of the major elements in the lesson.
Using an overhead, project a selection from the original Greek text of Hecuba (The play can be found on the Perseus Digital Libary Web site.) Remind students that when they study any ancient Greek play they are not really dealing with the original text, but rather are dealing with a translation of the original text. Ask them to consider how the translators might influence the text of the play.
Tell your students that they are going to examine four different translations of one short scene from Hecuba.
Select a short cutting from the play that will give each actor approximately 8 to 10 lines. Make copies of that scene from the four different translations. Divide the class into pairs, and then divide the pairs into 4 groups. Assign one of the 4
translations to each group. (Each pair in-group one will have translation one; each pair in-group two will have translation
two, etc.) Before students begin rehearsing, give them a synopsis of the scene they will be presenting, and provide any information they might need to understand what is happening in the scene. Finally, encourage students to find the way to make the text work as theatre in the presentation.
When it is time to present the scenes, group them according to translation so that the students can compare how different actors interpreted the same translations, and then compare how the translations differed from one another. Use the Scene Discussion Guide worksheet to assist in the discussion of scenes. As the students are watching the scenes have them keep in mind the following:
- Does the scene seem formal or informal? Classical or modern?
- How believable is the dialogue?
- Are the characters interesting?
- How would you rate the dramatic impact of the translation? (High, low, moderate?)
- How would you rate the theatricality of the translation? (Was it easy to play? Did it inspire you as an actor or director?)
After all the scenes have been presented and discussed, bring the class to a close by asking the students to consider the significance of the role of the translator in dramatic works. Ask if they are aware of any other plays they have read that are translations. (Some possible answers: Chekhov, Ibsen, Moliere, Strindberg, and Pirandello.)
(Note: At the Internet Classics Archive, you can download a complete copy of Hecuba, translated by E. P. Coleridge. Other translations you might consider using are Hecabe, translated by Philip Vellacott in Euripides: Medea and Other Plays, Penguin Books, 1963; Hecabe, translated by John Davie in Euripides: Electra and Other Plays, Penguin Books, 1998; and, a new version by Frank McGuinness from a literal translation by Fionnula Murphy, available from Faber & Faber, London, 2004. The McGuinnes text provides the greatest contrast in form from the others.) There are many scenes in the play to choose from; it is only important that you choose the same scene from each play.
Assessment:
Use the Assessment Rubric to assess your students' works.
Extensions:
Have students develop a program featuring several different translations of the same scene from Hecuba.
Challenge students to find several different translations of other playwrights and do a comparative study/performance.
Sources:
Print:
- Euripides: Electra and Other Plays, tr. John Davie, London, Penguin Books, 1998.
- Euripides' Hecuba, tr. Frank McGuinness, London, Farber and Farber, 2004.
- Euripides: Medea and Other Plays, tr. Philip Vellacott, Penguin Books, 1963.
Web:
Authors:
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Jim Carpenter, Ph.D. (retired)
La Plata HS
Charles County Public Schools
La Plata, MD
