Performing Difference: Bodas de sangre and the Philosophical Hermeneutics of the Translated Stage

Postcolonial and translation scholarship draws attention to the role of translation in extending asymmetries of power and knowledge between aspects of culture and identity represented and involved in translation, focusing debate on the agency of the translator as the representing subject and calling for recognition of the cultural distinctiveness of the objects of translation. Yet in the context of translation for the theatre, where its object is the fleeting moment of performance that passes between a play and its original audience, the twin task of translating and protecting difference is challenged by the placelessness that surrounds it. This article seeks to examine
how the placelessness of performance creates a challenge for translation and considers the extent to which philosophical hermeneutics offers scope for both the explanation and recognition of difference in translation.