BAM, that European colony in Brooklyn, set a new standard last year with 4.48 Psychose, a minimally surtitled French edition of an already cryptic English play. This season it’s raised the bar: Twelfth Night will be performed in Russian; The Tempest in French; The Wild Duck in Norwegian; Hedda Gabler in German; and Nine Hills, One Valley in Manipuri, the regional dialect of a remote hill-state in northeast India. A quickie Shakespeare translator for what you’ll hear onstage—and chat about afterward.

La Tempête
Translated: Nous sommes fabriqués De l’étoffe des rêves; Notre vie n’est qu’un souffle Dans un vaste sommeil.
In the original: We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Our suggested lobby repartee:
“Je crois que Shakespeare était le premier grand existentialiste du monde.”
Which means:
“I believe that Shakespeare was the world’s first great existentialist.”

Twelfth Night
Translated:
О музыка, ты пища для любви! Играйте же
(O Muzika, ti pishya dlya lyubvi! Igrayite je.)
In the original:
If music be the food of love, play on.
Our suggested lobby repartee:
“Я был бы так рад увидеть как эти лесбиянки из Тату смогут сыграть роли близнецов!”
(“Ya bil bi tak rad uvidyet kak etsi lesbianki iz Tatu cmogut cigrat roli blyznyetzov!”)
Which means:
“I’d love to see what the lesbians in T.A.T.U. could do with the roles of cross-dressing twins!”

Related:

• Archive: “Arts and Culture”
• Articles by Boris Kachka
• Table of Contents: Sep 11, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!