From text to performance: interpretation or traduction? Trevor Griffiths’ Fatherland,as directed by Ken Loach

Abstract

In the collaborative arts such as the theatre and the cinema the struggle over interpretation is central. In order to explore the issue of interpretation, in this article I compare the print text (screenplay) of Trevor Griffiths’ Fatherland with the realized performance text as directed by Ken Loach. I argue that because of Loach’s views about the role of the written text, the role of the actor/character and his concept of naturalism in performance, he goes beyond legitimate interpretation of the written text and ends up traducing it. I also suggest that the circumstances of production of the film - a European co-production for cinema and television distribution with an ‘international’ cast - contribute to this traduction. I illustrate my argument by comparing the discursive practices of Griffiths and Loach and by analysing one key scene.