The (re)working of dramatic language in Janet Suzman's The Free State
Keuris, Marisa
In her play The Free State: A South African Response to Chekhov’s “The Cherry
Orchard” Janet Suzman took Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and transposed it into
post-1994 South African idiom. A process of “acculturation” was thus used by
Suzman, and she chose to change every element of the foreign/source text, The
Cherry Orchard, when writing The Free State: setting, characters and language.
In this article I focus on how Suzman “reworked” the original dramatic dialogue of
Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard in her play The Free State by highlighting two
issues: firstly, the use of dramatic utterances in the play and secondly, the discourse
context(s) of the play. The discussion is placed within the context of work done by
recent studies on dramatic language (for example by D. Birch, D. Burton, Vimala
Herman, and others), which also incorporates studies in the field of discourse
analysis.
Opsomming
Janet Suzman het in haar drama The Free State: A South African Response to
Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” Chekhov se The Cherry Orchard geneem en dit
oorgeplaas in ’n post-1994 Suid-Afrikaanse idioom. ’n Proses van “akkulturasie” is
deur Suzman gevolg en sy het gekies om elke aspek van die vreemde/bronteks, The
Cherry Orchard, te verander na The Free State: plasing, karakters en taalgebruik.
In hierdie artikel fokus ek op hoe Suzman die oorspronklike dramatiese dialoog
van Chekhov se The Cherry Orchard “herwerk” het deur twee aspekte uit te lig,
naamlik, eerstens die gebruik van dramatiese uitinge in die drama, en tweedens, die
diskoers konteks(te) van die drama. Die bespreking is geplaas binne die konteks
van werk wat gedoen is in resente studies oor dramatiese taalgebruik (byvoorbeeld
deur D. Birch, D. Burton, Vimala Herman, en andere), wat ook die veld van
diskoersanalise omvat.
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