'Difficulties of Translation' — a playback performance

"I understand everything, but I can't say it."

Sound familiar?

We are constantly translating something, and not always from one language to another.

• We translate thoughts into words
• feelings into actions
• glances into guesses

We try to read body language, understand gestures, catch intonation, or decipher the meaning of silence.

Sometimes one look is enough for understanding, and sometimes even a thousand words are not.

Life in another country adds its own translation difficulties. We search for a common language with new people, get used to unfamiliar rules and traditions, explain ourselves with gestures, and find ourselves in funny and awkward situations. And sometimes we discover that understanding another culture is no less difficult than learning a foreign language.

But even when we speak the same language, that still doesn't guarantee mutual understanding. We can be heard completely differently than we intended. We can misinterpret someone else's action, stay silent about what matters most, or say something we never meant.

So what is harder: translating words or conveying meaning?

This is what our new playback performance "Difficulties of Translation" is about.

Playback — a theatre form where audience members share real stories from their lives, and the actors immediately transform them into short stage pieces.

Without a script and without pre-prepared roles, through:

• movement
• music
• metaphors
• improvisation

That evening we will look for a common language, laugh at misunderstandings, recognize ourselves in other people's stories and, perhaps, find new meanings in our own. After all, theatre is also a kind of translation: from the language of life to the language of the stage.