You’ve watched subtitled movies before, but have you ever been to a live performance with surtitles? If not, you might be interested in attending a play at L’UniThéâtre. That’s right – Edmonton’s own professional francophone theatre offers performances with English surtitles.
Theatre surtitling is a popular form of language and cultural transfer on stages internationally and a growing area of research, but it remains a relatively unexplored practice. Reliable and available research is needed to contribute to our understanding of the process and the products of surtitling, especially to determine the audiences’ needs.
I am a Master’s student in the Translation Studies program through the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural studies who is currently conducting a Study on the Audience Reception of Theatre Surtitles for my thesis. The study is the first of its kind in Canada and internationally, and it is financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The goal of the study is to develop surtitling strategies to improve the audience experience, to better respond to the needs of bilingual and non-French-speaking audiences, to explore the language-learning potentials of surtitles and to expand upon current research by developing a framework for describing the reception of surtitles in multilingual settings.
If you are interested in attending a performance with surtitles at L’UniThéâtre, you are invited to fill out a survey about your experience with the surtitles. You do not have to speak a language other than English, and you do not need to be bilingual to attend the performances or to participate. There will be a brochure inside the programs of the plays that will include a link to the online survey. Printed versions of the survey will be available in the lobby after each performance. Following completion of the survey, you will have the chance to enter a draw to win two season’s passes to L’UniThéâtre’s 2015-2016 theatre season.
The next play is called Jean et Béatrice / Jean and Beatrice and runs from March 25th – April 5th. Please visit L’UniThéâtre’s website for details about the upcoming performance (scroll down the page for English information): http://www.lunitheatre.ca/jean-beatrice.html
Whether you participate in the study or simply attend the play, you are sure to benefit from a unique theatre experience!
Detailed information about this study is provided on the information letter and consent form of the survey. If you have any further questions regarding this study, please do not hesitate to contact Milane Pridmore-Franz (mpridmor@ualberta.ca).
