La Celestina at Repertorio Español

On behalf of UCLA’s Comedia Working Group, Marta Albalá Pelegrín, Aina Soley Mateu, and Paul Cella have written subtitles and a didactic guide to complement a series of live performances of La Celestina at New York City’s Repertorio Español. From February to May 2019, audiences can see director and playwright Leyma López’s Spanish-language adaptation of Fernando de Rojas’ masterpiece. We are delighted to have made these events more accessible to the public.

As with our creation of subtitles for EFE TRES’ El príncipe inocente at LA Escena 2018, here, too, the demands of brevity have forced us to rethink our work as translators, as compared to how we approach full-length translations. We have redefined the notion of fidelity to an original to mean synthesis and abridgment aimed at capturing basic meaning, not rendering into English virtually all elements of the Spanish. As translators of subtitles, we have a more exclusive role as textual interpreters. Because our subtitles are immediately accessible to audiences, we must make decisions about the relative importance of words that we generally leave to directors when we produce full-length translations. We have sought to write subtitles that amount to the essential brushstrokes of López’s adaptation, and that enable quick reading that does not distract from the physical development of the story on stage.

The guide will be posted and available free-of-charge at https://repertorio.nyc/#/education. It will serve as a tool for middle and high school teachers to prepare students before their visits to the theater.

For information about these performances, call 212-225-9999 or visit Repertorio Español’s website by clicking here.