I have translated ten of eleven plays of mine into English. That is what I had been doing during the last six months.
I want to publish them. Probably volume 1 and 2 will be published either in December this year or January next. Volume one contains Rathamusala, Here Comes the Horse the Horse, and Tiger`s Tale, and volume 2, Rahu and Ketu, and Jarasandha, two plays for puppet theatre, The Rebel, and The Priest and the Prostitute, a version of Bhagavadajjukiyam, Sanskrit play attributed to Bodhayana of 6th century A. D.
Personally it had been a rewarding experience to translate my own plays into English. It was almost like rewriting. It is so especially because when a writer translates his own work, he is not bound by the original. He can make changes. That is what I had been doing. I think I created new texts in English, based on the plays I once wrote in Kannada. At least that is how I would like to describe these plays.
To illustrate this, I should mention what happened while translating Rathamusala. When I came to the last scene, I felt it can end differently. So, I wrote another 11th scene. In the previous versions, Chetaka, commits suicide. I have retained it. But, I have also written another scene in which he wears the costumes of the Vidushak and escapes from the country, and from the enemy. I thought this ending is also equally valid because it is also a possibility; it is also born of the previous scenes. May be this ending makes it more multidimensional than the previous ending.
I want to publish them. Probably volume 1 and 2 will be published either in December this year or January next. Volume one contains Rathamusala, Here Comes the Horse the Horse, and Tiger`s Tale, and volume 2, Rahu and Ketu, and Jarasandha, two plays for puppet theatre, The Rebel, and The Priest and the Prostitute, a version of Bhagavadajjukiyam, Sanskrit play attributed to Bodhayana of 6th century A. D.
Personally it had been a rewarding experience to translate my own plays into English. It was almost like rewriting. It is so especially because when a writer translates his own work, he is not bound by the original. He can make changes. That is what I had been doing. I think I created new texts in English, based on the plays I once wrote in Kannada. At least that is how I would like to describe these plays.
To illustrate this, I should mention what happened while translating Rathamusala. When I came to the last scene, I felt it can end differently. So, I wrote another 11th scene. In the previous versions, Chetaka, commits suicide. I have retained it. But, I have also written another scene in which he wears the costumes of the Vidushak and escapes from the country, and from the enemy. I thought this ending is also equally valid because it is also a possibility; it is also born of the previous scenes. May be this ending makes it more multidimensional than the previous ending.
