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TRANSLATING SILENCE: CORRELATIONS BETWEEN BECKETT, CHEKHOV, AND HIRATA are dissatisfied with their silent situation while Beckett demonstrates how those figures in silence ultimately mirror the audiences who watch the play in darkness, silently, at the theatre. Hirata adapted the essence of Chekhov and Beckett by treating the themes of solitude, stillness, and silence in The Three Sisters as well as by introducing an android as the means of heightening the mechanical, empty, silent atmosphere. Consequently, Beckett was influenced by Chekhov’s absurd situations and in turn influenced Hirata, in terms of having actors relate with new technology in the theatre. These three dramatists gave special weight to silence to highlight the distinction between verbal and non-verbal elements. It may well be said that the dramatists enabled the characters to play a theatrical role similar to that of the Benshi for silent movies discussed in the beginning of this paper. Ultimately, Beckett wanted to present every scene in silence as if the audience were watching a silent movie. It may well be that Beckett chose silent techniques to demonstrate those motifs that had already been treated by Chekhov by adding a few lines and gestures like a Benshi. In other words, Beckett treated his plays as if they were silent movies accompanied by a Benshi who physically explained the content of the works on the stage. Like a Benshi, who mediates between the silent movie and the audience while accompanied by orchestral music, the characters are able to observe their situations from outside. This sense of being somewhere in between blurs the boundaries between the stage and the audience. The characters are equipped with extra space and silence which allows them to be conscious of their own raison d'être. This strategy enables the characters to be more physical and three-dimensional by removing the barriers between the stage and audience, unreal and real, verbal and non-verbal, source language and target language, and voice and voiceless. CONCLUSION Although on the surface the characters of Beckett, Chekhov and Hirata seem to be mired in despair, there are simultaneously expectations and hope implied on the stage. Silence becomes visible for the audience not through the verbal lines but through pauses, gestures, facial expressions, paces, costumes, lighting, and stage props. These non-verbal aspects are entirely supported by the aesthetics of silence discussed in this chapter. At the same time, it may still be difficult for readers of the three playwrights to comprehend the nuance between verbal and non-verbal aspects from the two-dimensional written text. However, once they witness the three-dimensional stage audiovisually, they are more able to grasp this hidden message. By treating silence + 123
