‘Multilingualism and/or Monoculturalism in \"El vall dels llenguados\" (1999), by Manuel Molins and \"La Partida o còctel de gambes. Vodevil qüadrilingue\" (2002), by Albert Mestres’.
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‘Multilingualism and/or Monoculturalism in El vall dels llenguados (1999), by Manuel Molins and La Partida o còctel de gambes. Vodevil qüadrilingue (2002), by Albert Mestres’. Montserrat Roser i Puig University of Kent Both Catalonia and Valencia boast great playwrights who not only have chosen to use the Catalan language as a means of artistic expression but have also made a feature out of introducing several other languages in their works. There is nothing new about using foreign characters in plays. However, while in the 1960s and early 70s we notice the introduction of Spanish, foreign languages or even unintelligible ones into Catalan plays (often with subversive intent), the 1990s see a flurry of multilingual plays which, while no longer amounting to an attack on the language of the Spanish Empire or the already disintegrated dictatorial regime, use a complex dynamics of degrees of understanding (which varies according to the spectators’ language ability and the willingness of the playwright to support or replace the spoken language with other modes of expression) to reach the audience. This paper intends to show how the relationship between the individual and each language is in itself emotional (or at least emotionally charged) and that the expectations one has from each language are different, especially when they are tested on stage. The two case studies here are El ball dels llenguados (1999) by Manel Molins, claimed by its author as the first play to use multilingualism in its modern form, and La partida o Còctel de gambes. Vodevil quadrilingüe (2002) by Albert Mestres. A relevant aspect of these plays is their potential contribution to what today is described as intercultural communication. Indeed, it is the intention of this paper to address the question posed by Patricia Gabancho: ‘When we speak of intercultural dialogue, who dialogues with whom?’ and to ask whether these plays establish a genuine dialogue between cultures or whether, on the contrary, they are multilingual dialogues within a monocultural space (that is, if they are multilingual and multicultutral or multilingual and monocultural). In this respect this paper will investigate the levels of engagement and / or disengagement of the audience with each language; it will assess the correlation between languages and their representation of different cultures; it will study the impact of the development of the plays’ argument of specific language choices and changes; it will evaluate the effect of the multilingual experience on the audience, and it will assess the ability of the plays to transcend their languages by evaluating the challenges of translating and or adapting them for an English audience. In theatre, the perfect situation is one where, as Noam Chomski explained, the “ideal speaker-‐ listener” operates “in a completely homogeneous speech community, and knows its language perfectly” (Chomski 3). On the other hand, Roy Harris also explains, “language is continuously created by the interaction of individuals in specific communicative situations. (Harris 2) As Carlston explains, however, “the great majority of the world’s drama has been created by dramatists who were working with a specific audience in mind, and not uncommonly dramatist and audience shared not only a common language, but often a highly specialized language unique to theatrical communication (Carlston 3). In this sense, we find that plays often run against Mikhail Bakhtin’s attempt to deny heteroglossia to the theatre. In fact, the situation gets complicated in the case of a bilingual or multilingual play where, as Carlston argues, “we cannot simply rely on what is ‘Usually said’ –that people who speak different languages do not understand each other. A play produced in a bilingual community [...] may well utilize two clearly different languages [...] and yet be entirely composed of characters who understand both languages, and each other, perfectly well, an ability shared by a bilingual audience” 1
(Carlston 8). On the other hand, “Languages on stage as elsewhere are recognized and coded as languages by their employment of features culturally related to that construction rather than comprehension or noncomprehension” (Carslton 9). But there are also many examples of dramatists where dramatists and audience are not essentially homogeneous in terms of cultural assumptions or in the way these assumptions are expressed theatrically. In those cases there is a sense of alienation and, as Carlston explains, there has been a great variety of strategies employed over the centuries to mark the other in theatre, the most striking of which is “the actual employment of the other’s language” (Carlston 12-‐13). We find that “often similitude is the major structural motivation for [...] linguistic mixing, but no cultural activity, and certainly not language, is devoid of associations and values”. Therefore it comes as no surprise that “Theatrical heteroglossia almost always involves a wide variety of social and cultural issues” (Carslton 14). But at the same time, Heteroglossic cultures in the modern world are more common, more complex in their linguistic mixing, and more visibly politically and theatrically than at any other time in the past. this means that the theatre, for centuries essentially monoglossic in both production and reception, can in many cases assume a heteroglossic audience for heteroglossic theatre, or, as in the case of postcolonial theatre, an audience that is at least pertly heteroglossic allowing plays to send different messages to different sections of the audience. (Carlston 17)
In El Ball del llenguados, El baile de los lenguados, The dance of Soles (metrofarsa sobre el amor) (1999-‐ rev 2004), Manuel Molins presents us with a play where six naked characters (three man and three women, set into three couples ELL/ELLA, MUJER 1/MUJER 2 and MAN ONE /MAN TWO) are eating an imaginary meal, sitting on empty tables. On the stage is there is also a grandfather clock the ticking of which gradually slows down as the story progresses, until the end, when it stops. The unifying theme is the direct link with Plato’s Banquet, as these are three sexual couples on their respective Romantic dates (Molins 64). One of the peculiarities of the piece is that, as the author explains, the first couple (ELL/ELLA) on Table A speak Catalan; the second couple on Table B (MUJER 1/MUJER 2) speaks Castilian and the third couple (MAN ONE/MAN TWO) on table C speaks and ‘devours’ in English, and there is a lot of flexibility in the way the action is staged and these languages are assigned. In the introduction entitled ‘Amor, llenguados, dimonis i entropia’, for, as Molins explains: el joc de les llengües i de l’obertura de l’acció es pot canviar i ser la Parella 1 la que parle en castellà, la Parella 2 en anglés o la Parella 3 en català. I encara caben altres canvis o combinacions: la Parella 2 en anglés, la Parella 1 en català o la Parella 3 en castellà. Etcètera. Però també es podria representar amb una sola parella [...]. (Molins 65)
This hints at the fact that the languages in themselves are not used as either cultural markers or behaviour conditioners, especially when it is clear that the three couples are not seeking difference from each other but are instead part of a single whole or, as the author puts it: ‘les tres parelles haurien de semblar una única parella que es mou amb sis cossos, sis caps i dotze braços’ (Molins 65). The postmodern touch of this choice comes from the view that ‘Acció i repetició són, entre d’altres, dos dels elements bàsics del fet teatral’ (Molins 65) and that ‘la repetició i la coralitat [...] són [...] alguns dels punts clau d’aquesta proposta’ (Molins 65). Nonetheless, the essential issue of the play, that is, the search for the daemon of the love sectioned in half like a sole, is universal because it is the ‘aspiració eterna de totes les persones i totes les cultures en les diferències i especificacions que les caracteritzen’ (Molins 66). In this sense, it can be said that language is used by Molins as one of several structural elements to make the play a piece where ‘la repetició assumeix una estratègia especial ja que les tres parelles es diuen les mateixes paraules-‐situacions d’amor i desamor’ (Molins 66). For him, as posited by Wittgenstein, ‘les paraules signifiquen en l’ús’ and therefore ‘la situació de comunicació entre les diverses parelles és diferent 2
perquè diferents són els seus personatges i les seues realitats.’ (Molins 66), no matter which language of communication the happen to be using at the time. Going on from Wittgenstein’s premise that ‘words get their significance through use’, according to Molins, ‘les tres parelles funcionen com un tot a la manera com les distintes veus d’un cor s’acoblen i complementen. En conseqüència, s’ha de valorar també d’una manera especial la qualitat i el tipus de veu dels actors (baix, baríton, tenor, soprano, mezzo...) no només com a criteri general per a totes les escenes, sinó perquè això potser resultarà inevitable en algunes rèpliques on probablement s’hagen d’aplicar algunes tècniques del cant i la recitació corals (Molins 66-‐67). […] ’De tant en tant, però, també intervenen en l’acció parlada amb frases que es repeteixen sincrònicament o com un eco en les tres llengües proposades ‘ (Molins 67 ). However, it is also a fact that language shift always has its implications and in this way, ‘s’hi produeixen variacions estratègiques essencials en funció no només del seu propi context, sinó també de la seua realitat lingüística ja que a ningú no se li escapa que cada llengua (català, castellà, anglés...) hi afegeix matisos importants al mateix diàleg o que el mateix diàleg es transforma en un altre en ser viscut per cada parella’ (Molins 66). And Molins put this idea to the test in this play explaining that ‘En el cas de la Parella 3 (MAN ONE i MAN TWO) que en l’original s’expressa només en anglés, en la versió estrenada pel l’OFF TEATRE parlava amb una barreja d’anglés i castellà, com si es tractés de dos homes que per alguna raó (treball, vacances, etc.) vivien a València. Però, d’acord amb l’Albert Mestres, ara parlen en anglés quan ho fan entre ells i en català oriental quan s’adrecen al públic’ (Molins 67). However, foreign language knowledge is not required to understand this play. That is, the languages of communication are Catalan (mostly) and Castilian (less so), which are understood by any Catalan audience. The few outer dialogue interventions in English are either repeated in Catalan and or Castilian or are themselves foreign echoes of what has already been said in the other languages, so no lack of understanding is possible, and the inner dialogue utterances which include new information not repeated elsewhere are virtually inexistent. For this reason, I would argue that, far from cultural representation, the use of the three languages is essentially musical. The cadence and repetition of the words (sometimes in duos, sometimes in trios) give the piece an oratorio-‐like tone, which becomes mesmeric and grows to a single climax in the final chorus at the end. MUJER 1. Bravo; muy bien. ¡Up!... La verdad es que aquello del banquete del amor o Déipnon empezaba a resultar bastante divertido. Así que le pregunté: Si el amor es un banquete, ¿quiénes son les platos y los cubiertos? MUJER 2. No hay platos ni cubiertos: los amantes se comen a bocados. ELL. ... es mengen a mossos. MAN TWO. ... eat each other. MUJER 1. Lo dijo devorándome, claro; y a mí la temperatura se me disparó. Entre el vino y la caníbal debía tener tanta graduación como el whisky, cuarenta grados... MUJER 2. Luego, de postre, hay unas pequeñas locuras de chocolate. MUJER 1. Pero yo ya estaba lanzada y dispuesta a todo. ¡Up!... ¿Y por qué no bailamos? MUJER 2. ¿No tienes hambre? MUJER 1. Tengo ganas de que comiencen las locuras. MUJER 2. Eso vendrá después. MUJER 1. ¿Por qué no ahora? MUJER 2. ¿No te gusta el lenguado? MUJER 1. Prefiero tu lengua. MUJER 2. Tú eres mi medio lenguado. MUJER 1. Y tú mi media naranja. ELL. Menja’m. MUJER 2. Cómeme. MAN TWO. Eat me. MUJER 1. Devórame. MUJER 2. Chúpame. MAN TWO. Lick me.
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ELL. Xucla’m. MUJER 1. Succióname. MAN ONE. Suck me. MUJER 2. Exprímeme. MAN TWO. Squeeze me. ELL. Esprem-‐me. MUJER 1. Sécame. MAN ONE. Dry me. MUJER 2. Muérdeme. MAN TWO. Bite me. ELL. Mossega’m. MUJER 1. Ahógame. ELLA. Ofega’m. MAN ONE. Drown me. MUJER 2. Castígame. MAN TWO. Punish me. MUJER 1. Penétrame. MAN ONE. Get inside me. ELLA. Penetra’m. MUJER 2. Aráñame. MAN TWO. Scratch me. ELL. Esgarrapa’m. MUJER 1. Mátame. MAN ONE. Kill me. ELLA. Mata’m. MUJER 2. Fúndeme. ELL. Fon-‐me. MAN TWO. Melt me. ELLA. Torna’m boja... MAN ONE. Make me crazy... MUJER 1. Vuélveme loca; pero no me hables de Aristófanes ni Platón. (Molins ???)
Indeed, as explained by Carlson, when it comes to post-‐modern plays: Multiple languages [are used] in an almost decorative manner, as abstract formal elements in the theatrical composition, as one might mix colours or musical tones or passages. Such linguistic passages are not, of course, devoid of meaning; they are simply separated from the traditional realistic connection with a character who is speaking a language that he or she might use in “real life” [and] the function of such language [...] adds importantly to the texture of the performance. (Carlston 151)
Albert Mestres’ La partida. Còctel de gambes. Vodevil quadrilingüe, on the other hand, is also a play about a dinner attended by six friends. Here the use of language can be regarded as even more Macaronic than in Molins’ case as each character speaks different languages depending on their culture of origin and their language of international communication. Thus Pere, who is Catalan, communicates in Catalan with Mireia (his wife), Laura (Mireia’s young sister and his lover) and Marta (his sister) and in English when he speaks to Clemens (his Dutch University friend from Amsterdam) and Lena (Clemen’s sister); Mireia, who is also Catalan, speaks Catalan to Pere and Marta but French to Max (Lena’s partner); Max speaks French mixed with the occasional bit of English to Mireia and Dutch to Lena; Lena’s language is Dutch, but she speaks English to Pere; Clemens is also Dutch and speaks English to Pere, too; Marta, on the other hand, is Catalan but is married to Clemens, and speaks Catalan to Pere and Mireia and Dutch to Clemens. The only monolingual presence in the play is that of Laura’s voice on the phone, where her conversation with Pere is fully in Catalan.1 On the other hand, the play takes a de-‐constructive turn when the characters start to shift from one language to another depending on whom it is that they are talking to or how they feel at the time, or even whimsically in mid sentence. These shifts tend to mark the difference between the directional 1
All the vaudeville numbers are fully in Catalan. The scene of the passing tourists shows Turist 1 & 2 speaking French, and Turist 3 & 4 speaking English.
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language of outer dialogue and the internal language of self-‐awareness, but they also emphasize the utter lack of communication between characters and the huge gap between what they talk about and what it is that runs through their heads. Interestingly, this use of inner and outer languages, maps out perfectly with Mestres’ choice for Molins’ MAN ONE/MAN TWO couple, where the audience is prompted into noticing the huge gap and sometimes even total contradiction that exists between what one says and what one really means. Compared to the Ball dels llenguados, where Molins was intent on ensuring that language did not become a barrier to understanding for those who did not speak English (by offering the content through repetition in Catalan and/or in Castilian), here there is the complication of a different and therefore more challenging choice of languages: Catalan, French, English and Dutch, compounded by fragmentary, hardly-‐grammatical utterances and a punishing use of cultural stereotypical references thrown in for good measure. We, as modern Catalan speakers who are relatively familiar with the use of languages such as English and French for touristic or commercial purposes, are able to follow the thought processes and behaviours of the Catalan characters, but are most likely to miss out on the inner workings of the visiting friends. Indeed, it is impossible in real life to read the minds of others (especially if they write in Dutch!), and if we could, it is quite likely that we would be surprised at what we find out. In fact here is where Mestres’ ingenuity comes into play: By listening carefully to the Dutch lines, one develops the suspicion that they are fragments from a machine’s warranty leaflet and indeed, they are, but also, interspersed with them there are interjections of doubtful taste, overt sexual references, personal assertions and totally out-‐of context nouns, which subvert the instructions within which they have been inserted and produce a dark, humorous effect. LENA Oh dank you oh oh very nice Max oh no it’s no possible Clemens always says to me that you de catalans you are very quiet people at home do you understand? de catalaanen uw garantie mijn gat uw garantie MIREIA Attends je t’aide Max oh la Marta rai m’entens el que vull dir? PERE L’angoixa somorta el calamar el pes de la culpa el robatori el delicte el calamar enxampat en flagrant atur forty-‐two thousand ova a single mass of condoms you know because diu que a Holanda el robatori de bicis no és delicte yeah el robatori de bicis pa nostre de cada dia
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perquè si no seria el país amb més lladres del món diu bicis diu MIREIA I els conills s’ensalguen i es renten saps què et dic i no paren de demostrar-‐te tot el sant dia la seva superioritat saps què et dic els conills els formatges els holandesos et puis oh là là par rapport à ça Amsterdam a un poids international qui manque à Barcelone carrément je veux dire la petite à Marta et Clemens je veux dire c’est une fissure dans la sexualité LENA Marta mijn gat Clemens always says me Clemens do you understand? MIREIA La sota negra LENA Clemens teaching in de Nederlands is fastidious it’s true PERE Lena you teach literature at the university don’t you? but you love theatre don’t you? LENA Please Pere are you crazy? dey are so so so I don’t know how to say it do you understand? mijn gat PERE German literature isn’t it? at the university of Amsterdam isn’t it? that’s nice but Lena do you know Lena? you are very pretty
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Besides, the disjointed nature of the dialogue becomes a challenge in itself, for every character has his or her fixation and does not connect with the others thus becoming unable to elicit any response at all. In this context the language barrier is perhaps the least of the characters’ problems. Having looked at these two plays, I believe that, even though several languages are represented, in Mestres more than in Molins, we are facing a specifically Catalan culture where international friendships are natural and common. Molins’ play, on the other hand, offers a universal topic sung by a multilingual chorus. Mestres’ portrays an exchange of imaginaries, perspectives and expectations and a space of linguistic and cultural plurality, which helps reflect better the complexity of modern existence. Molins, however, shows us that it is possible to create a multiple language experience which is operative beyond a single set of rules. As obvious in sociological studies of multilingual communities, “the process reveals what international travellers have always known: that despite language barriers a surprising amount of communication can take place based upon context, non-‐verbal signs, and the goodwill and imagination of the would-‐be communicants (Carlston 53). On the other hand, as we have seen in these plays, and more specifically in Albert Mestres’, no matter how many foreign languages one speaks, communication is by no means guaranteed. As to whether these plays are translatable, the answer is yes. However, as Morris says, ‘Individual voices are always engaged in (often unnoticed) dialogues that link them to other speakers in the encompassing social network of language’ (Morris 33 in Moretti 132), and even though we may replace the languages used in these plays by others, these links will continue to exist. And, indeed, as Carlston says, “the question that haunts theatre [in postmodern times] is of course that of reception” (Carlston 16). Nevertheless, the effect of such changes on audiences is bound to be complex and may work in often surprising and unexpected ways. Carlson, Marvin, Speaking in Tongues. Language at Play in the Theatre, The University of Michigan Press, 2009. Chomski, Noam, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Cambridge MIT Press, 1965. Harris, Roy, The Language Myth, New York, St Martin’s Press, 1981, 167. Mestres, Albert, La partida o còctel de gambes. Vodevil quadrilingüe, València, Tres i Quatre, 2009. Molins, Manuel, El ball dels llenguados / El baile de los lenguados / The dance of soles, Barcelona, Sala Muntaner, Teatre de ponent, 2006.
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