I started translating literary texts as a means of recreating the French and Francophone world where I had furthered my French studies, and as a way of sharing my favourite texts with other readers in an environment removed from the academic world which has been my home for almost 40 years.
Drama is of course the genre which is closest to ‘reality’, it is the one with a soundtrack, with only dialogue, which elicits immediate reaction from the audience. Ons wag vir Godot is the second play that I was commissioned to translate by the Drama and Theatre Arts Department of the University of the Free State (UFS), and more specifically by my colleague in that department, Walter Strydom (the first was Tom gaan plaas toe, by the French-Canadian playwright, Michel Marc Bouchard).
While discussing a possible project with him for the 2024 Free State Arts Festival, I ran through a list of titles that I hoped to see translated and performed as part of our ongoing collaboration, and En attendant Godot / Waiting for Godot / Ons wag vir Godot came up on both our lists. On mine, because I had read BA Languages at the UFS, majoring in French and English, and had studied the play in both departments. (The source texts I used for the translation were my student copies from the 1970’s). As with many students, it had been my favourite play: I had memorized lines from it, I had chosen it for my final year oral, I saw it at the iconic Odéon theatre in Paris the following year, when au pairing in France. Almost 40 years later, after a career as a lecturer in literary translation, it was still my favourite play, but for different reasons.
It was also on the list of Dion van Niekerk, who directed the festival production. He had studied with Reza de Wet, who had done her master’s on Waiting for Godot.
Few people know that the first version of the play was in French and not English. Samuel Beckett left Ireland for France; it is here that he wrote the play and where it was performed for the first time in the Théâtre de Babylone in 1953. He would translate it into English a few years later, and although it is almost the same play in the two languages, there are also distinct differences. This is probably the main reason why I wanted to translate it: the translator has to take both source texts into consideration and must bear in mind that the greatest self-translator in world literature is looking over his or her shoulder.
Besides which, Ons wag vir Godot is probably the most famous play in the world. Even those who have not read or seen it, have a theory about who Godot could be. In 2025, speakers of Afrikaans will be celebrating a century of the language’s official status. There is no better way to join in the celebrations than to see whether one can also wait for Godot in Afrikaans, with all the translational challenges that it entails.
Last but not least, Ons wag vir Godot contains Lucky’s monologue, one of the most difficult speeches in world theatre to memorize, perform and translate. For the production, the experienced actor and drama pedagogue, Gerben Kamper, was cast as Lucky.
Drama texts, whether original or translated, are not often published in Afrikaans. Naledi Publishers commemorated the production of this world-famous play in a very French way: as in France, copies of the text were made available to the public from the final dress rehearsal onwards. It is a beautiful publication, containing colour photographs of the actors, in a very readable print. Les Editions de Minuit, the original French publishers of the play, authorized a limited, once-off edition of 300 copies. Each copy is numbered, making it a collector’s item.
Johan Coetzee is a very special publisher – Naledi is one of the last to publish translations (there are a few others as well, but they have contracts with Dutch cultural organizations etc). Johan puts his head (and his company) on the line. Plays are almost never published in South Africa, with the result that the repertoire for pupils and students studying drama hardly ever changes – you need the text, otherwise it is just a title on a page. When it comes to theatre, the same text is used for the performance by the actors, and to read, by students and people interested in theatre. It is important that plays are published, because they need to be read even if there is no performance. (How many of us saw our matric Shakespeare play on stage?) Without this publication, the translation will get lost, it will not be in a library, in a drama department or in a private house. I think it is the very first time in South Africa that the publication coincides with the premiere – the entire team at Naledi worked day and night to make the date. It is really a first for theatre, translation and plays in print, and Johan is the only publisher in this country who is prepared to take that chance.
Here is a passage from the play (Act 1):
Hy staan met moeite op, hinkepink na die coulisse links, stop, staar in die verte, hou sy hand soos ‘n skerm voor sy oë, draai om, loop na die coulisse regs, tuur in die verte. VLADIMIR volg hom met sy oë, gaan tel dan die skoen op, kyk binne-in, en laat dit vinnig val.