CMU School of Drama


Monday, November 12, 2018

The Re-Invention Of Subtitling. A New Technical Approach To The International Market

The Theatre Times: Theatre subtitling is often considered independent of the performance, providing non-native speaking spectators minimal assistance in understanding performance dialogue.

For a long time, captioning in theatres was considered as an accessory. Twenty-five years ago translations of shows in foreign languages were reduced to a summary of the performance in the program, or an oral translation transmitted in a dull voice to the viewer using an earpiece or headphones. Times are changing and the ‘titlist’, as they are called, have become essential to the international dissemination of theatre.

1 comment:

Yma Hernandez-Theisen said...

As someone who enjoys foreign films, I was drawn to Jonathan Thonon Article “The Re-Invention of Subtitling. A New Technical Approach to the International Market”. Jonathan begins his article by addressing how we often use and see subtitling, “often considered independent of the performance” and how it’s used and applied as an accessory. Personally I’m not too knowledgeable to how subtitling is applied to live performances, but, based off how he describes it, it still seems separate to the overall performance. There are ways we can change this! Jonathan interviews people who plan to bring non-native speakers more immersed into the performance, just like those native speakers. I’m so pleased to hear about these advancements in this direction, as theatre is an art that should be accessible. Im glad that subtitles are getting picked up in the never ending journey of progress to more successfully present a message or tell a story.