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Chapter 4 - Translating an Embodied Gaze

Theatre Audio Description, Bodies and Burlesque Performance at the Young Vic Theatre, London

from Part I - Translation as Medium and Method

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2023

By
Eleanor Margolies  and
Kirstin Smith
Edited by
Avishek Ganguly  and
Kélina Gotman
Avishek Ganguly
Affiliation:
Rhode Island School of Design
Kélina Gotman
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

The chapter explores translation between images and language through the practice of audio description for blind and partially sighted theatre audiences. This practice exceeds analytical models such as ekphrasis or intersemiotic translation because of the particular circumstances in which the texts are received: they are performed live alongside their sources (set, costume, lighting, gestures), and in dialogue with other performance modalities (such as live and recorded sound). The embodied nature of the practice affects how the describer constructs a spectatorial ‘gaze’, particularly in relation to performers’ bodies. Examples are drawn from two performances that foreground bodies and the gaze: Beauty and the Beast (Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser, 2013), and a short cabaret act, Scarf Dance by Amelia Cavallo. The latter performance suggests ways in which attention to the gaze in burlesque might help to develop a ‘critical audio description’.

Keywords

accessaudio descriptionburlesquedisabilityembodimentgazetheatretranslationvision
Type
Chapter
Information
Performance and Translation in a Global Age , pp. 87 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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