‘Channels’: a Translation Exchange for French Plays into English

Extract

BETWEEN 14 and 28 June 2002 the Lyttelton Theatre hosted a series of five rehearsed readings: Jean-Paul Wenzels's Rising Blue (2000), translated by Lin Coghlan and directed by Deborah Bruce; Laurent Gaudé's Battle of Will (1999), translated by David Greig and directed by John Tiffany; Marie N'Diaye's Hilda (1999), translated by Sarah Woods and directed by Dalia Ibelhauptaite; Philippe Minyana's Habitats (2001), translated by Steve Waters and directed by Fiona Laird; and Serge Valletti's Le Pub! (1998), translated by Richard Bean and directed by Mick Gordon. Part of the National Theatre's innovative ‘Transformations’ season, the readings constituted the public interface of what the organizers viewed as a ‘new type of translation exchange’.