Untranslatability in Accented Theatre by Playwrights of French Algerian and British Caribbean heritage: a Comparative Approach.

Abstract

In this thesis, I analyze a series of contemporary plays, primarily by French Algerian playwrights who have been brought up and educated in France. For comparison I also consider certain plays by playwrights of British Caribbean origin and also by Francophone Algerian playwrights where this comparison is productive. All plays except one were written and performed post-2000. The thesis considers, not interlingual translation, but the creative translation that takes place in translating the post-migrant voice into drama, and how this process might be interrupted by the barriers that post-migrant playwrights face, which might be considered to render the post-migrant voice untranslatable. These barriers include hostile state policy, financial constraints and institutional racism and discrimination. Over the course of the thesis, the state ideologies of integration in France and Britain are interrogated to ascertain how they impact on the work of the selected playwrights. In France, republicanism emphasizes concepts of assimilation and integration on post-migrant communities while at the same time refusing to recognize ethnic identities. This leads to injustices affecting France’s considerable population of immigrant origin, whether they moved to France as first-generation immigrants or were born there. British multiculturalism in theory recognizes the equal rights of ethnic minorities but is increasingly under attack as an ideology, and in practice many state organizations have been shown to be institutionally racist, as highlighted recently by the unfair treatment of the Windrush generation under the Conservative government. Furthermore, this thesis will assert that both France and the UK have failed to come to terms with their troubled colonial history: in France, the Algerian War of Independence and, in the UK, the legacy of enslavement have left unresolved sensitivities which impact on the subject matter of postmigrant theatre. Sometimes, on the other hand, the barriers faced by post-migrant playwrights may be internal, where, for instance, traumatic memories might be experienced as unspeakable and therefore untranslatable. The agency of the playwright is also examined, to explore what might not be creatively translated because it transgresses accepted societal norms.

The thesis will show that, in spite of such barriers, post-migrant playwrights do in fact translate their voice creatively, apparently experiencing the constraints as inspiration and producing some of the most dynamic work on the contemporary stage. Often the methods they use are indirect, for instance by using myth and imagery, or sometimes their plays explore the limitations and implications of the post-migrant vernacular or dialect, which can be perceived by the hegemonic majority as low status, uneducated or even criminal. The use of the comparative method has enabled me to identify more clearly how social and political conditions impact on post-migrant drama in both France and Britain. It has highlighted how French Algerian post-migrant playwrights might be subject to more constraints than those of British Caribbean heritage, as in republican France it is more difficult to express a sense of communal identity, but also recognized the impact of Francophone Algerian theatrical practitioners, which has proved an energizing force on the genre. Thus, by using untranslatability as an enabling concept, the comparative method indicates how post-migrant playwrights in both France and Britain are inspired to question state ideologies and interrogate and disrupt hegemonic theatrical norms.

Date of Award	29 Jul 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Bangor University
Supervisor	Helena Miguelez-Carballeira (Supervisor) & Jonathan Lewis (Supervisor)