This paper will examine how ‘classics’ in the European theatre tradition are made newly contemporary through the act of translation for performance. Students will engage in theoretical thinking about some key terms at stake and explore a number of case studies from the history of theatre. The focus will be on European (including Anglophone) texts but may extend beyond as appropriate. Our research will follow several paths. We will determine what makes a theatre piece a classic and explore what it means to (want to) be contemporary and/or to write for performance in any given context. We will then investigate specific case studies to work out the changing shapes of how performance might constitute a specific mode of (singular/ collective) translation and adaptation for English-speaking venues, spectators, and audiences.

Sessions will offer the chance to:

• trace the history of the notion of the ‘classic’ beyond classical antiquity to the present, with a focus on its place and function in the history of theatre;
• examine notions of performance and the contemporary in translation studies
• compare strategies of theatrical translation and adaptation that prioritise the contemporary;
• explore a specific case study from the origin of a classic text/piece to a later performance in translation;
• practise a performance-focussed translation of a theatre ‘classic’;
• write commentaries on published or performed translations of ‘classic’ plays with a focus on the translator’s contemporary moment.

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 out your approach; OR an essay on a specific issue pertaining to this paper.