49 3 Musical Realizations: a Performance-based Translation of Rhythm in Koltès’ Dans la solitude des champs de coton Roger Baines and Fred Dalmasso Introduction This essay provides an account and analysis of an experimental method focusing on the performance of rhythm and sonorities to produce a new translation into English of Dans la solitude des champs de coton (1985) by Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948–89). Koltès’ works have con- tinued to grow in popularity in Europe since his death in 1989 and he is now considered one of the most original and influential French playwrights of recent decades. Dans la solitude des champs de coton (here- after Solitude) is an encounter between two characters, a Dealer and a Client, in an ill-defined nocturnal space. On his way from A to B, from one lit window at the top of a building to another, the Client enters the territory of the Dealer. They circle around each other for the dura- tion of the play, but the Client will not reveal what he desires and the Dealer will not reveal what he has to offer to satisfy the Client’s desires; the play unfolds until it ends in a moment of inconclusive potential violence. The reception of Koltès’ work on the English-language stage has been identified as problematic. According to Maria Delgado and David Fancy (2001, pp.149–50), this may in part be due to the emphasis in English-language theatre on psychologically driven characters and action-centred narrative; but we believe that it may also be because existing translations do not completely engage with the fundamentally important rhythmic qualities of Koltès’ writing; certainly we feel that this aspect of his work in translation deserves more attention. 9780230228191_05_cha03.indd 49 9780230228191_05_cha03.indd 49 11/25/2010 9:17:25 PM 11/25/2010 9:17:25 PM