Multiple voices in surtitling on contemporary Catalan stages

Abstract

Surtitling is an increasingly common linguistic and sensory accessibility service for theatre and for opera (Mateo 2007). Interlingual surtitling provides language access to foreign languages in international performance productions or festivals. Intralingual surtitling provides sensory access for the D/deaf and hard of hearing. However, surtitling can benefit wider audiences, ‘who appreciate surtitles … but are not necessarily recognized … as potential beneficiaries’ (Secară 2018, p. 131). In a landscape of blurring boundaries between access needs, languages, and theatre practices, this contribution analyses the professional, semiotic, communicative, and discursive challenges of surtitling. Attention is paid to five surtitled productions in Barcelona in the 2020–2021 season taking into account the multiple voices involved in surtitling. We see how surtitles add ‘an additional voice’ to theatre texts in semiotic terms (Carlson 2006, p. 199). We consider how different languages are rendered in surtitling in bilingual or increasingly multilingual societies (Ladouceur 2013). We give voice to surtitlers, who have an essential but often invisible role, and have to negotiate with other agents involved in theatre production. A key factor is the integration of surtitling ab initio in the creative or access process, especially where disability or inclusion are central, especially in inclusive theatre practices.