Need HELP - researching 2 languages interacting on stage

[Bette4]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 1:52pm

Hi!  Does anyone know of examples of a story being told where two languages interact onstage without confusing the audience?  For instance, in AIDA the Egyptians and the Nubians obviously spoke different languages in real life, but this issue was ignored completely for the sake of the ease of storytelling and everyone just spoke/sang in English.  Are there any shows where a main story point is that characters need to overcome a language barrier in order to communicate with each other... but is presented in a way where the audience isn't confused?  Preferrably dramatic examples, not comedy.  Thank you!!!

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 1:58pm

The first one that comes to mind is The Light in the Piazza...part of the conflict is the American family and the Italian family's different values, coupled with the emotional immaturity of Clara and Fabrizio. Some of the numbers and dialogue are done completely in Italian, also.

[Anakela]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 2:08pm

I thought Vietgone did an excellent job of setting it up so that you knew when characters were speaking in Vietnamese vs when they were speaking in English, and the difficulties when the two would meet, while every actor on stage spoke English.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 2:09pm

Bette4 said: "Are there any shows where a main story point is that characters need to overcome a language barrier in order to communicate with each other... but is presented in a way where the audience isn't confused?"

The recent Deaf West production of Spring Awakening exploited the fact that some characters were monolingual in ASL, others monolingual in English, while others were bilingual in both languages. Sometimes the language difference was a barrier, as when the schoolmasters couldn't communicate with their deaf students. 

The Miracle Worker does not involve two languages being used on stage, but the play is definitely about characters overcoming a language barrier of sorts.

 

[kdogg36]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 2:12pm

Oh! The details are fuzzy, but Chinglish had a lot of dialog in Mandarin, and this was used as sort of a metaphor for the differences between Chinese and Western culture. Again, I don't remember enough to give you details, but it seems to be in the general area of what you're looking for.

[Bette4]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 3:20pm

These are great, thank you!  Also-- any examples beyond Aida where the language issue was just ignored and everyone speaks English and the audience forgives it for the sake of the story?

[LxGstv]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 4:19pm

The Encounter comes to mind. It is a one man show however. He tells the story of a photographer lost in the Amazon rainforest so there is Portuguese involved, he speaks in Portuguese and immediately translates it afterwards.

They are short sentences though, nothing too elaborate. During most of the play he struggles to find someone to communicate with.

[Fan123]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 4:20pm

This is a comedic example, but 'Dogg's Hamlet' by Tom Stoppard might count? It has a number of characters speaking in 'Dogg', which uses English words but assigns different meanings to each word. Context is used to make the 'Dogg' meaning of each word clear to the audience. Then somebody comes along who only speaks normal English, and confusion ensues (for characters, not audience).

[phan24]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 8:46pm

Check out this cool regional bilingual production of Disney's Aladdin that recently played in LA at Casa010, this bilingual production started in Texas in 2009. 

It's performed in English and Spanish with some of the ensemble/Iago becoming translators throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLlPnXZeieU&feature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C22mWNxG4DQ

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 8:53pm

Check out almost any Chicano (Mexican-American) play and you'll find a mixture of English, Spanish and Caló (Chicano slang). There's an excellent revival at the moment of Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum in LA. Luis Valdez' play may be the best example of the genre.

My husband loved the production and he understands no Spanish at all.