The Last Scene
By Alain Foix
Translated by Amelia Parenteau
The Last Scene offers an almost dreamy depiction of violent realities, and a fascinating window into our past, through a lens of French interpretation.
Phaedra
By Racine
Translated by Catherine Esther Styles
Although Racine’s Phèdre is acknowledged as one of the supreme achievements of European literature, it is not often performed in English.
Researching and Directing Guillén de Castro’s The Force of Habit
By Sara Freeman
This article tells the tale of several pieces of scholarship that had a deep impact upon our show, in the spirit of demonstrating the richness theatre history and historiography incorporate into a show process.
Review: (A)pollonia: Twenty-First-Century Polish Drama and Texts for the Stage. Edited by Krystyna Duniec, Joana Klass, and Joanna Krakowska
Reviewed by Will Harrington
Many of the problems associated with being Polish in relation to other countries should not be out of place for those wondering what it means to be American, British, Australian, or any of the other English-speaking nations this fresh translation hopes to target.
Editor’s Note 5.4
Welcome to the Fall 2015 issue of The Mercurian. The contents of this issue represent the results of a number of ongoing relationships and collaborations related to theatrical translation that I have engaged in over the past few years.
Proud Son
By Shu Matsui
Translated by Kyoko Yosida and Andy Bragen
Proud Son is about a young man who has chosen to isolate himself from the world, a familiar phenomenon in contemporary Japan known as hikikomori.
Blood Match
By Oliver Mayer
Adaptation of Federico García Lorcas Bodas de sangre
The Groom is unknowingly doing the dirty work yet again for the conglomerate, thinking that he is satisfying his blood lust and honor when he is actually doing business for the cartel.
Dust (Dialogue Between Man and Woman)
By Saverio La Ruina
Translated by Thomas Haskell Simpson
I don’t understand, we had such a nice evening, you seemed happy… What’s the matter?
Pork Kidneys to Soothe Despair
By Alejandro Ricaño
Translated by Daniel Jáquez
Ricaño belongs to the generation of writers – not only in Mexico but in all of Latin America – considered to be the cohort that brought the word back to the center of the drama on the stage. These are theatre makers who write, direct and act in their own creations.
Editor’s Note 5.3
We begin this issue with Daniel Smith and Valentina Denzel’s adaptation and translation of the eighteenth century Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi’s The Serpent Lady.
The Mercurian 