Vanya tickets on sale
The translation of a major work of global literature is something one does lightly or not at all.
A new play, A Misunderstanding
The approach of summer means that it will soon be time for the Crouch End Festival once more. This year I’m producing an adapted play amongst a trio of short original works by members of the Crouch End Players to be performed once more (we hope!) at the Great Northern Railway Tavern. The piece I’ve…
Translating Octave Mirbeau – with scripts!
Cruel Comedy, a double bill of short plays by Octave Mirbeau will be playing at the Great Northern Railway Tavern on Friday 8th July at 6 p.m., on Saturday 9th July at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., and on Sunday 10th July at 6 p.m.
Translating Sartre
Looking at my diary 16th April 2020 was a very French day. As well as listening to Building a Library on Fauré and reading Julian Jackson’s biography of de Gaulle, it was also the day where I noted, ‘Started Huis Clos translation.’ What brought that on? Well, the first entry in that diary reads: Today,…
Working on ‘A Soldier’s Song’ in the London Library
With 'A Soldier's Song' due to première in a week's time it's time to pay my respects to the London Library - without the benefits that membership brings I doubt that I would have got the project off the ground.
Read more Working on ‘A Soldier’s Song’ in the London Library
Marivaux and Berlioz
After a weekend of Berlioz on Radio 3 it's also now time to reveal that ASoSo (as it's become to cast and crew) is itself inspired in part by Hector Berlioz. On reading the original Marivaux it rapidly became apparent to me that the male lead's romantic obsession with Araminte had a powerful resonance with the real life obsession that Berlioz had with the actress Harriet Smithson
Cast is Announced!
The cast for A Soldier's Song is announced!
A New Year, A New Play
A post announcing my next theatre collaboration, working with director Victoria Welsh to put on aproduction of Marivaux's 'Les Fausses Confidences' in a new, original, translation with the Crouch End Players.
Musset update!
A quick post with the file for 'A Door (Must Be Open or Shut)'
The Crouch End Festival and Alfred de Musset
A fun part of the production has been assembling props - a 40s Woodbine astray, an old-fashioned bottle of scotch, a cigarette case and a whiff of 40s in the costume of the characters. And the cast - Anna Rogers, Matt Griffin and Ruari Johnson - have been extraordinarily successful at bringing Musset's characters to life in a faux-Fitzrovian setting.
A London Journal 