Translating Uncle Vanya
Alexander Gelman\xa0has created a new translation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and the director, translator, and outgoing director of the School of Theatre and Dance at Northern Illinois University, discussed how it came about and why he waited until now to write it.\xa0Our discussion features talks about Alex stepped in where others have already succeeded; the relationship between directing and translation; how Chekhov discovered people whose stories were worth telling; how great plays frequently don\u2019t read well; the tantalizing possibility of a pantomime dame Lady Macbeth; how writing plays is more akin to writing music than novels; how we speak in order to hide, not reveal; the importance of one\u2019s \u201cenvelope of truth;\u201d how actors are translators, too; and how there are worse collaborators for a playwright than Anton Chekhov. (Length 23:17)