How To Translate Body Language?
Isaiah Sheffer is in a bind.
The artistic director of New York’s Symphony Space and the host of National Public Radio’s “Selected Shorts,” Sheffer was asked by the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene to direct a staged reading of Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” in Yiddish for a January 7 benefit. In and of itself, this shouldn’t pose a problem. He has a nimbly rendered script to work with, courtesy of translator Miriam Hoffman, and the roles once played by Walter Matthau and George Burns will be in the capable hands of Yiddish theater legends Fyvush Finkel and Theodore Bikel. The difficulty, Sheffer said, begins where the dialogue leaves off.
“It’s only a staged reading,” Sheffer told the Forward. “It’s not a full stage production. And the question is, what do we do with Neil Simon’s physical comedy? I concluded the only way to do this is to have someone read the stage directions. Then the question becomes, read the stage directions in what language?”
Some argued that they should be in English. Theatergoers may want to hear Yiddish, but they may not know it well enough to follow pure narration. Then again, Sheffer said, if the actors are “rattling off this good comic stuff in Yiddish,” an English intrusion could break the rhythm. And then there are the supertitles to worry about, which are no small matter, seeing as how in recent years the Folksbiene, out of deference to a growing audience from the former Soviet Union, has been running them not just in English but in Russian, as well.
“In the end, I figured we could make a final decision during rehearsals,” Sheffer said. “They’re two very funny guys, and it’s a funny script. I’m ready for anything.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
