our words make worlds

Worldmaking on Stage: Theatre Translation Research as Practice

Out of the Wings Festival 2018

A One-day Forum for Theatre Translation Practitioners and Researchers


Co-organised by Out of the Wings,
Language Acts and Worldmakingand Goldsmiths, University of London

Registration is now open here

Full programme is available here

As part of the 2018 Out of the Wings Festival (www.ootwfestival.com), Out of the Wings is coming together with the Language Acts and Worldmaking project (www.languageacts.org), and Goldsmiths, University of London (www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-translation/) to offer a one-day discussion forum aimed at practitioners of theatre and theatre translation and academic researchers working on theatre and translation studies. Taking place on the closing day of the Out of the Wings Festival, 2-6 July 2018, the forum will create a space for dialogue around the play readings from Latin America, Portugal, and Spain presented in English translation as part of the festival. This is an opportunity to engage creatively with ideas on staging, teaching and researching translated theatre.

The day will bring together practitioners and researchers actors, directors, producers, literary managers, commissioning editors, dramaturges, writers, translators, research students, theatre translation trainers, theatre translation lecturers and academics to discuss a range of questions at the nexus of theatre translation research, translator training, and theatre practice. Alongside roundtables, the day will include a facilitated workshop on commissioning theatre translation services and a discussion about the work of Out of the Wings over the last ten years. 

The programme is below. For further information on the Out of the Wings Festival 2018 including, how to book tickets for the forum, our programme of rehearsed readings at the Cervantes Theatre and our three workshops, visit: ootwfestival.com

0930-1000: Registration and refreshments

1000-1015: Welcome from organisers

1015-1215: Advocating Worldmaking: Activism, Advocacy, Translation (Chaired by Dr Tom Boll, University of East Anglia)

  • Dr Angelina Llongueras, researcher, actor and director – Minoritized Languages: Their Right to be Present in the Global Cultural Stage
  • Dr Ben de Witte, KU Leuven – Gaining in Translation: Ksec Act, Lorca’s El público and Queer Theatre on Relocation
  • Lara Parmiani, LegalAliens theatre company – Ephemeral Translations: Advocating a Return to the Original Language
  • Professor Neil Blackadder, Knox College – Advocating for Plays in Translation on Stage in the US
  • Paola Napolitano, performer and movement educator – Embodying and Re-Patterning Translation Choices Through a Performative Process

1215-1330: Buffet lunch, refreshments, and networking

1330-1500: Worldmaking in the Classroom: Training Translators, Training Trainers (Chaired by Dr Sophie Stevens, Language Acts and Worldmaking, King’s College London)

  • Dr Sharon Black, Queen’s University Belfast – Theatre Accessibility Managers as Translation Managers and the ACT Project’s Training for the Role
  • Trine Garret and Camila França, Foreign Affairs theatre company – Leaping Off the Page: The Translator as Theatre-Maker
  • Dr Esther Gómez-Sierra, University of Manchester – Translating Feelings in Spanish Golden Age Plays: From an Undergraduate Workshop to the Theatre-Making Drawing Board
  • Professor David Johnston, Queen’s University Belfast ­ – Teaching Theatre Translation: Theory and Practice

1500-1530: Refreshments and networking

1530-1730: Professionalising theatre translation workshop: Commissioning and Working with Theatre Translators (Dr Sarah Maitland, Goldsmiths, University of London and Catherine Fuller, Society of Authors)

1730-1830: 10 years of Out of the Wings – A conversation with Professor Catherine Boyle & Professor David Johnston

1830: Close and adjournment to evening performance as part of the Out of the Wings Festival 2018 

For further information please contact:  Dr Sarah Maitland, Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London: s.maitland@gold.ac.uk; and Dr Sophie Stevens, Translation Acts Post-Doctoral Researcher, Language Acts and Worldmaking: sophie.stevens@kcl.ac.uk