User:Charlesjgao/sandbox

Translations (Translations) is classified as a "start-class" of "low-importance" in the Ireland and Theatre wikiprojects. The Talk page is practically empty with only a section inserted by the "InternetArchiveBot" (a bot, not a real user). The most recent modification by an actual user was done by Fergananim  a year ago in Sept 2017, with a handful of changes made each year starting in 2014 (a bit more active than some of the other start-class articles, but not by much).

The lead section is sparse, consisting mostly of what the playwright has said/written about his own play. The source is a magazine interview with the playwright - while difficult to evaluate without access to it (it looks like an old out-of-print issue that hasn't been digitized), it's probably safe to say that there isn't much pecuniary motivation for the magazine to fib about what a playwright has said about his own play (well, who knows, maybe there is!). There is another source from a book titled "Masterpieces of Modern British and Irish Drama" written by Sanford V Sternlicht, who seems to be an accomplished author/expert who has written about 40-50 books about dramas. There is sufficient information to get a sense of the play's significance, but the rest of the article only includes superficial details.

The structure is very straightforward and simple - you can see a brief summary of the characters, the cast, when it was first performed and subsequent performances, adaptations, the plot, as well as historical references. It includes information about stagings outside of Ireland, but it's missing information about where it was played in Ireland and the rest of the UK (maybe it wasn't?). Each claim has a cited source - for most of the dates it relies on local news articles that talk about the play within a community-context, which I'd say is fairly reliable given the low stakes of the information (I don't think there's much incentive for someone to lie that this play was staged in Barcelona translated by Ferran Uzlet). However there's not much else about the play. When compared to the wiki for Waiting for Godot, which has a lot more details on the plot (summaries subdivided into acts I and II), characters (including motivations, characterizations, behaviour, possible costumes etc for each major character), even the setting, I'm left wanting. Godot 's wiki also includes lengthy sections on philosophical, religious, and political interpretations of the play, references in popular culture, works inspired by Godot, and even a detailed production history, all of which are absent from the Translations wiki. Does this absence of details and meaningful analysis mean the play was insignificant or had little cultural impact? It might seem like that to someone who only affords a cursory glance at the article.

The tone succeeds at being balanced/neutral, with only a couple lines near the end of the Plot section that sound like someone's opinion or perspective that needs citation or more elaboration. But it only achieves this because there is so little in the article.

The references appear to be a good mix of thoroughly written/researched books published by academic presses, independently authored by experts in Irish theatre or modern theatre, as well as theatrical magazines.

The article is balanced in its sparseness across all sections. Joking aside, there don't appear to be any overt agendas in the words promoting one view over another.

Citation Issues

One of the claims, that it is a popular set text, isn't quite explained in the citation given - it points to what appears to be a curriculum guideline of what texts are available for A-Level students, but the page doesn't explicitly say anywhere that this is "popular".

The link to the Cleveland Playhouse for the citation for the line about director Kenneth Albers and scene/lighting designer Richard Gould actually makes no reference to the play, Albers, nor Gould (possibly the intended page was moved or changed).