How to Choose Which Languages to Use in a Multilingual Theatre Production

The choice is a dramaturgical and ethical decision

Choose the smallest coherent set of languages that serves the production’s dramaturgy, intended audiences, access commitments and rehearsal resources. That principle is more useful than asking how many languages a multilingual production should contain. A language may be performed by actors, projected in surtitles, printed in the programme, or used in the rehearsal room; each layer does different work and carries different costs. The decision is therefore not a decorative casting choice but a dramaturgical and ethical one, shaped by who the production is for and what it asks them to understand.

Start with purpose, not quantity

A production may use several languages because its characters would plausibly speak them, because it wants to address a specific local audience, because it is touring to a place where another language is dominant, or because it treats language mixing as a formal device. These justifications are not interchangeable. In Miami, Miami New Drama’s 2017 Our Town (Multilingual) at the Colony Theatre presented Thornton Wilder’s play in English, Spanish and Creole; an interview with artistic director Michel Hausmann describes the production as a reimagining of the American classic for its city (Breaking Character, 2023). The example shows how language choice can be grounded in a specific urban audience rather than in a general idea of diversity.

Other documented models show different emphases. A 2019 Routledge chapter on ensemble-based multilingual theatre describes a 17-member cast at Skidmore College performing Caridad Svich’s The Orphan Sea in thirteen languages, including Arabic, Asante Twi, Cape Verdean Crioulo, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish (Routledge, 2019). That production used multilingualism as a laboratory for translation practice and ensemble training. A 2011 thesis by Diana Milree Garles argues for multilingual theatre’s community value and future educational necessity (University of Northern Iowa, 2011). Each rationale would lead to a different set of language decisions.

Map three language layers

A production can use English and Spanish on stage, German surtitles, and English as its rehearsal language; that is a design choice, not a neutral fact. A 2022 study of multilingual productions in Berlin shows how the choice of performing and supertitling languages interrelates with existing language hierarchies and associated privileges of access (Contemporary Theatre Review, 2022). The lesson for practice is to record every language layer explicitly, including who is expected to understand which layer and what happens when they do not.

Decide what must be intelligible, and to whom

Multilingual dramaturgy does not require total transparency. The Berlin research uses opacity as a lens for analysing how unfamiliar languages can be staged and how institutions handle access (Contemporary Theatre Review, 2022). But opacity should be a designed effect, not an unmarked accident. The production team should ask: which plot points, relationships, jokes, warnings and emotional turns must be available to which parts of the audience? What can remain atmospheric or estranging? If the answer is that the main story must be clear, surtitles, programme summaries or bilingual staging may be necessary. If partial intelligibility is the point, the production still needs a clear invitation for audiences to experience that partiality without assuming prior knowledge.

Surtitles are not a neutral add-on. Their language, position, font size, speed and translation style all affect access. A production that performs in three languages but surtitles only in English has made a hierarchy visible. That may be justified by budget or by the expected audience, but it should be an explicit decision, discussed with the creative team and, where possible, with audience representatives.

Match languages to people, place and power

Language names can conceal important differences. ‘Spanish’ may mean different regional varieties, registers or bilingual practices; ‘Arabic’ may mean Modern Standard Arabic, a regional dialect or a performance convention. The production should specify which variety or register is wanted and why, and involve speakers who can judge it. The Routledge chapter on ensemble-based multilingual theatre argues that casting and training actors with multiple languages may change theatre practice and support a diverse global perspective (Routledge, 2019). That is not a reason to treat multilingual actors as automatic translators. Translation, cultural consultancy and language coaching are distinct tasks and should be credited, consented to and budgeted.

The rehearsal room also has a language hierarchy. If the working language is the dominant language of the funding country, actors who speak it less fluently may be disadvantaged in note sessions, schedule changes and informal decisions. A production can mitigate this with interpreted notes, bilingual stage management, written summaries and extra time. These are not luxuries; they are part of the conditions that make multilingual collaboration possible.

A practical decision sequence

1. Write a purpose statement. Complete the sentence: ‘This production uses these languages because …’ If the sentence cannot be finished without vague claims about diversity, revisit the concept.
2. Identify primary audiences and access routes. Ask who is expected to attend, what languages they read and hear, and what access needs they bring. Include d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, visitors and people who do not speak any of the performed languages.
3. Audit company resources. Record who speaks which languages, at what level; whether interpreters, translators, surtitle operators and language coaches are available; and how much rehearsal time the plan requires.
4. Choose performed languages and their distribution. Decide whether each language runs through the whole production, appears in specific scenes, belongs to particular characters, or functions as song, recorded voice or physical text. Avoid the cliché of one language per character unless the dramaturgy justifies it.
5. Choose mediated languages. Decide what will be surtitled, summarised, audio-described or left opaque. Translation for surtitles is still translation and needs a credited translator, a suitable register and a readability check.
6. Test at a table read or workshop. Run key scenes with the intended mediation in place. Check timing, sightlines, comedy, emotional clarity and whether the language plan creates the intended power relations.
7. Document and budget. Produce a language map, pronunciation guide, surtitle files, rights record and access notes. Add translation, interpretation, extra rehearsal and technology to the budget from the start.

Rehearsal and collaboration consequences

Multilingual rehearsal is not monolingual rehearsal with translation added at the end. The company needs protocols: which language is used for notes, how code-switching is rehearsed, who interprets when, and how written documentation is shared. The Routledge chapter describes an ensemble-based model in which actors, creative team, staff and audiences are brought together through multilingual practice (Routledge, 2019). That model implies preparation: language work is part of rehearsal, not an afterthought once staging is fixed.

The director and dramaturg should also distinguish between literal meaning and theatrical meaning. A line may need a literal surtitle for plot, but its rhythm, register or cultural reference may require a different solution in performance. Translators, language dramaturgs and actors should be able to discuss these choices without reducing translation to word-for-word substitution.

Rights, translation and documentation

Translation and adaptation rights must be addressed before the language plan is finalised. A play may be performed in one language under an existing licence but require additional permission for translation, adaptation or surtitling in another. Rights are jurisdiction-specific and contract-specific, so the producer should check with the playwright, agent or rights holder rather than treating a general workflow as legal advice. Surtitle texts, recorded voiceovers and published programme translations may also need clearance and credit.

Documentation is part of access. Keep the language map, translator credits, pronunciation notes, surtitle files and rehearsal protocols with the prompt book. A future remount, tour or archive will need to know not only which languages were used but also who made the translation decisions and how audiences were expected to follow them.

Common problems and balancing tests

• Decorative multilingualism: languages are added without function. Test: if one language were removed, would meaning, cultural context or access collapse? If not, ask why it is there.
• Over-translation: every language is rendered into one dominant language, flattening the production’s power dynamics. Test: what should remain opaque, and for whom?
• Under-translation: audiences cannot follow information the production treats as essential. Test: who cannot follow, and is that exclusion intended?
• Default English: English becomes the working or surtitling language because it is convenient. Test: whose language is being treated as neutral, and why?
• Unsupported collaborators: bilingual actors or staff do extra translation labour without credit or time. Test: is that labour budgeted and acknowledged?
• Hidden costs: surtitling software, screens, translation, interpretation and extra rehearsal appear late in planning. Test: does the budget show every language layer?

A defensible language plan can usually be stated in one page: the purpose, the performed languages, the mediated languages, the working languages, the intended audiences, the access measures, the rights position and the budget. The strongest multilingual productions are not those with the most languages, but those whose language choices are explicit, justified and supported in the rehearsal room and in the auditorium.