Intoxicated!
By Mahendravarman
Translated by Brishti Guha
Darling, it’s true that asceticism makes one charming. You’ve done the ultimate penance. And you’re looking more beautiful every second.
Rwandi
By Gerardo Fulleda León
Translated by David Lisenby
Good evening to you all! Today I want to tell you the tale of a boy. He was not a prince or a philosopher. But he could have been someone who passes by and then builds a tower that makes us raise our eyes in amazement.
Iphigenia at Aulis
By Euripedes
Translated and Adapted into English Verse by Brian Vinero
You may call me an augur or a seer / And call me to decipher when you fear / The mystery of what will lie aheadI’m Agamemnon’s extra eye.
In Review: Sentence to Hope: A Sa’dallah Wannous Reader and Modern and Contemporary Political Theatre from the Levant
Reviewed by Rebekah Maggor
The ideal of theatre as social project, with the potential to mobilize the masses against a sectarianized and unequal society, remains very much alive in the Arab world.
In Review: Seven Plays of Koffi Kwahulé: In and Out of Africa
Review by Neil Blackadder
University of Michigan Press’ African Perspectives series has provided the opportunity for a kind of publication that all readers of The Mercurian wish would happen far more frequently: a collection of translations of plays by an important contemporary playwright.
Volume 8, Issue 1, Spring 2020
A PDF of the current issue can be found here. All past issues can be found under Index.
Volume 7, Issue 4, Fall 2019
A PDF of the current issue can be found The Mercurian_7.4_Fall 2019. All past issues can be found under Index.
Editor’s Note
Welcome to the Fall 2019 issue of The Mercurian: A Theatrical Translation Review!
The Bacchae
By Euripedes
Translated by Emma Pauly
Here I am. Dionysus, son of Zeus, in the land of Thebes, at your service. Kadmos’ daughter Semele gave birth to me here in a scorch of lightning. Down from divinity, I have taken this mortal form, here where the Dirke and Ismenus meet.
Lamp Lady
By Marta Aran
Translated by Elena Igartuburu
MAURICI: Very interesting. Ok then, listen. I don’t have a title for it yet, but I’ll probably call it “Lamp Lady.”
GEMMA: Why?
MAURICI: Because that’s exactly what it’ll be. A woman posing as a lamp.
The Mercurian 