Contested Heterotopias: Translation Technologies in Post-Devolution Welsh-Language Drama

Abstract This article examines the use of English-language surtitles within Welsh-language performances, aiming to consider their potential impact for a minority-language theatre culture. Having been utilised with increasing frequency over the past decade, their prominence signals an overdue and welcome attempt to expand audiences and to increase access for Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking audiences alike. Their use is a fairly recent development within the relatively brief history of Welsh-language theatre. Therefore, the study examines their presence in relation to the preceding century and a half and considers how the visual inclusion of English-language text within a Welsh-language mise en scène signals a subtle but potentially substantial interruption to what has historically been the function of the Welsh-language theatrical event. Prior to the use of translation technologies, Welsh-language drama could be performed for a presumed Welsh-language audience with the tacit assumption its linguistic text could be comprehended by all in attendance. This might no longer be the case. But by considering the presence of surtitles as dramaturgical material, the study will consider what the implications of their inclusion might be for a constituent audience that has no need for an English-language translation.