Russian-Language Plays on British Stage

Our guest speakers will tell us about their interest in Russian language and the first involvement with Russian theatre. They will consider the latest developments in Russian theatre in the shadow of repressive laws about censorship in the arts (passed in 2014) with a particular focus on contemporary play-writing. Sasha Dugdale and Noah Birksted-Breen will also reflect upon the translator’s task, considering the challenges and opportunities of rendering new Russian plays onto British stages.

Language: English

Entrance: CamRuSS members free, others £5

Sasha Dugdale is a translator and consultant for The Royal Court Theatre and other theatre companies. She has translated nearly thirty plays for production and publication. Her translation of Plasticine by Vassily Sigarev won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2001. She is a poet and playwright in her own right and has published two collections of translations of Russian poetry and three collections of her own poetry, most recently Joy in 2017, which was a Poetry Society Choice and included the Forward-Prize-winning long monologue ‘Joy’. Between 2012 and 2017 she was editor of Modern Poetry in Translation and she is co-director of the Winchester Poetry Festival. Sasha’s latest translation for theatre, Bad Roads by Natalya Vorozhbit, premiered at the Royal Court in November 2017.

https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/bad-roads/

Noah Birksted-Breen, the founder and artistic director of Sputnik Theatre company dedicated to bringing contemporary Russian plays to the UK in their first English language translations. In 2010, Sputnik launched the Russian Theatre Festival in association with Soho Theatre. He won a Channel 4 Theatre Directors’ Award and was attached as Resident Director to Hampstead Theatre for eighteen months. Noah is also a professional translator of plays, academic works, film subtitles, short stories, poetry, etc. Noah graduated from Oxford University with a BA in Russian and French, did an MSc in Political Economy at the LSE. After working for a few years in the NGO sector he retrained in theatre with an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice (Playwriting) at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
‘The War Has Not Yet Started’ by Mikhail Durnenkov, translated by Noah Birksted-Breen opens in Southwark Theatre, London on 17 January 2018.

http://sputniktheatre.co.uk/