This paper caters to those with an interest in Spanish Golden Age theatre and its afterlives in translations and versions for foreign readers and spectators. We will discuss the history of the adaptation and translation of this verse theatre for English-speaking armchair and playhouse audiences and the particular challenges that are presented by the nature of the Spanish drama, including its generic and poetic norms and its original performance practices. Sessions will also involve discussion and comparison of English versions of Spanish Golden Age plays in the context of the theory and practice of theatrical translation.

Sessions will offer the chance to:

• trace the history of the translation of Golden Age drama into English (and comparatively into other languages);
• explore the history of the translation of Calderón de la Barca’s La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream) from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries;
• compare strategies of theatrical translation that prioritise readers and audiences;
• examine notions of performativity in translation studies with reference to Golden Age theatre;
• practise theatre translation either of canonical plays or some of the hundreds of untranslated plays from the period;
• write commentaries on published or performed translations of Golden Age plays.

Submission for this paper will be EITHER a critical commentary on two or more translations of the same play or plays; OR translations of sample sections of plays with a piece of self-reflective prose setting our your approach choices; OR an essay on a specific issue pertaining to this paper.