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Reading Samuel Beckett's in the light of Buddhism: a case study in the tradaptation of Waiting for Godot into a Thai Buddhist context

The work in this thesis stemmed from my desire to answer these questions: 1. How and why Samuel Beckett's oeuvre is thought to correspond with some of the ideas or concepts of Buddhism? 2. Why are the Thai authorised translation and the Thai productions of Waiting for Godot not successful in Thailand and in what ways? 3. How can Waiting for Godot be translated and/or adapted into the Thai culture so as to preserve the Beckettian effects and how can such effects be conveyed to Thai audiences? The study includes both theoretical and performance components. Regarding the performance, I play the role of the play's tradaptor and director, recontextualising Waiting for Godot into a Thai Buddhist context and directing the play on the Thai stage. The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter provides background information on the academic studies of and religious perspectives on Beckett's work. In the second chapter, the analyses and comparisons between Beckett's dramas and Buddhist dharma, notably his theatrical devices and vipassanii meditation, are examined. The third chapter explores the historical reception of the play in the world and in Thailand, as well as examines the difficulties in translating the play. The fourth chapter addresses the significant approaches to tradapting the play, while the audience feedback analysis and the commentaries are presented in the fifth chapter. This thesis is accompanied by two DVDs, which feature the practical component of the thesis, i.e. a recording of the performance and the annotated adapted script of the play.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:654438
Date January 2014
CreatorsManeewattana, Chutima
PublisherUniversity of Bristol
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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