This issue of The Mercurian is bookended by theatrical translations from two languages and two countries we have not published before: Che Xiao’s translation of Villain in a Turbulent Time from China, and Roger Allen’s translation of Soiree for the Fifth of July from Syria.
Reviewed by Iride Lamartina-Lens
New Plays from Spain: Eight Works by Seven Playwrights is a living testament to the continuing powerful and influential legacy of today’s theater in Spain.
By Sa`dallāh Wannūs
Translated by Roger Allen
Theater in this case not only offers a telling commentary on the events of the recent past, but also comes disarmingly close to the actual situation in the public domains of much of the Arabic-speaking world, that very space that in 2014 is being contested in many of its regions following the events of the so-called “Arab Spring” of 2011.
By Abel González Melo
Translated by Yael Prizant
There’s no talc, but there’s chalk.
By Oscar Sanz Cabrera
Translated by Matthew Ward
The play is translated into what I would call a ‘rough and tough’ London English, which I felt was the closest equivalent to the colourful language and ribald humour of the Barcelona residents that make up the cast of Oscar’s characters.
By Emilio Carballido
Translated by Jacqueline E. Bixler
The two of us alone here in the house. Looking at this old photo, counting the dead. Just Grandmother and I. The photo has begun to fade.
By Carl Sternheim
Adapted by David Copelin and John Van Burek
From a literal translation by Lascelle Wingate
One night last month took care of that. We were alone. He was my universe; I was happy, and full of desire. If he’d said one word, made one gesture, I’d have given myself to him. But the idiot just sat there, his big calf’s eyes bugging out of his head.
By SONG Jie, SUN Tuo
Translated by CHE Xiao
Based upon the real history of the three generations of the Shi family during the later Zhao period (319-351 A.D.) competing with each other for the imperial throne, the adaptors turned Richard III into a real historical figure Shi Zun, one of the emperors of the period.
The Mercurian 