British Acculturation of Italian Theatre

This article analyses some of the difficulties inherent in British translations and productions of Italian plays. I argue that these obstacles are not so much related to the exotic character of Italian theatre itself, but that they are on the contrary generated by the British attitude to Mediterranean cultures, in particular Italian culture. Starting from the notion of faithfulness to the original I show how the reception of Italian theatre is influenced by an opposition between British and Italian culture and by what has been called a discourse of the South. This attitude to Italian culture reverals itself in two diverging strategies adopted in British productions of Italian drama: one adheres to a stereotypical image of Italian culture, which involves reducing Italian characters to caricaturas; and the other consists of transferring Italian plays to a British milieu to ensure the domestication of those aspects of Italian drama which are deeemd too exotic to be accepted by target spectators.