Published work — Spanish-English theatre translation
Ramírez Pantanella, A. and Maitland, S. (2021) Masters of the Universe. London: Inti Press. Available at: https://www.intipress.com/product-page/masters-of-the-universe-almudena-ram%C3%ADrez-pantanella-translated-by-sarah-maitland.
Winner of the 2015 Calderón de la Barca prize
Los amos del mundo, on which Masters of the Universe was based, was awarded the 2015 Premio Calderón de la Barca by the Ministry of Culture through the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM) in recognition of merit and to encourage the work of young dramatists.
Listen to Almudena talk about the play and hear about my involvement in the translation in an interview for the Radio Nacional de España La sala podcast on 5 February 2018 here.
Despeyroux, D. and Maitland, S. (2019) The Reality. Primera edición. Madrid, London: Ediciones Antigona, Cervantes Theatre (Cervantes Theatre London, 4). Available at: https://edicionesantigona.com/cervantes-theatre/228-la-realidad-reality-denise-despeyroux.html.
Alcantud, M., Molero, S. and Maitland, S. (2016) No Direction. Available at: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2016-12/december-2016-microplays-no-direction-miguel-alcantud-santiago-molero/ (Accessed: 10 October 2024).
Mayorga, J. and Maitland, S. (2014) ‘The Cartographer. Warsaw, 1: 400,000’, in E. Schindel and P. Colombo (eds) Space and the Memories of Violence. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 91–104. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137380913_7.
Ortíz, L. and Maitland, S. (2007) Mad King Ludwig. Madrid: Caos Editorial.
Fernández, J.R. and Maitland, S. (2006) Nina. Madrid: Caos Editorial.
Caballero, E. and Maitland, S. (2006) On the Rock. Madrid: Caos Editorial.
Published work — Spanish-English academic translation
Castro Gutiérrez, F. and Maitland, S. (2012) ‘Rituals of defiance: Past resistance, present ambiguity’, in J. Gledhill and P.A. Schell (eds) New approaches to resistance in Brazil and Mexico. Durham: Duke University Press. Available at: https://www.dukeupress.edu/new-approaches-to-resistance-in-brazil-and-mexico.
Performances and productions of my work — Theatre translation ‘literals’
(2023–2024) The House of Bernarda Alba, by Alice Birch, after Federico García Lorca, and performed as a full professional production at the National Theatre, London, 16 November 2023 – 6 January 2024, directed by Rebecca Frecknall. Based on my 2019 literal translation of Lorca’s La casa de Bernada Alba, commissioned by Playful Productions.
You bring such scandal to my house
In the domain of Bernarda Alba, a daughter who disobeys is no longer a daughter.
Forced to live under their mother’s tight grip as they mourn their father’s death, can five sisters survive when young Adela dares for passion and freedom?
Olivier Award-winner Harriet Walter (Succession) plays the formidable matriarch, guarding her reputation against the rising tide of her family’s desires in this pitch-black drama exploring the consequences of oppressing women.
Following Olivier Award-winning revivals of Cabaret and A Streetcar Named Desire, Rebecca Frecknall makes her directorial debut at the National Theatre with Alice Birch’s (Normal People) radical version of Federico García Lorca’s modern masterpiece.
SOURCE: National Theatre website.
‘Literal’ translation for the stage
Variation is one of the delights of translation, which is why fresh translations of theatre texts are always desirable, even when the intended English-language production is based on a canonical classic that has been translated many times, such as Lorca’s La casa de Bernada Alba.
When I am commissioned to provide a literal translation for the theatre, my process is to provide a fine-detail translation of the Spanish-language original, alongside a specialist research study aimed at supporting my clients to understand cultural nuances, history and context.
I’ve also published several works about the theory and practice of producing stage translation literals.
(2013–2014) Punishment Without Revenge, by Meredith Oakes, after Lope de Vega, and performed as a full professional production at the Theatre Royal Bath, 26 September 2013 – 21 December 2013, the Arcola Theatre, London, 11 January 2014 – 15 March 2014, and the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, 28 March 2014 – 19 April 2014, directed by Laurence Boswell. Based on my 2013 literal translation Lope de Vega’s El castigo sin venganza, commissioned by the Theatre Royal Bath.
Regarded as the greatest tragedy of the Spanish Golden Age and the finest play of its presiding genius, Lope de Vega, this elegant work is set in the dangerous and glamorous world of Renaissance Italy.
The Duke of Ferrara has lived a wild and unconventional life. An infamous womaniser, his only son, Federico, is a bastard whom he dreams will one day succeed him.
When his subjects demand that he marry and provide them with the stability of a legitimate heir, the proud and beautiful Cassandra, Duchess of Mantua, is sent to be his bride.
But everything does not fall happily into place.
A passionate love develops – but not between the Duke and his Duchess – and, in a culture where honour is the highest virtue, there can be only one outcome.
SOURCE: Arcola Theatre website.
Performances and productions of my work — Full productions and rehearsed professional readings
(2019, 2018) The Reality [La realidad], by Denise Despeyroux. Performed at the Cervantes Theatre, London, 1–18 May 2019, directed by Raymi Renee, and as a rehearsed professional reading at the Cervantes Theatre, London, 2 June 2018, directed by Raymi Renee.
Twin sisters attempt an awkward exercise of pretending to be someone else, taking them close to the line that separates good and evil; the love of life and destruction; lucidity and madness. What do you do to pose as someone inside of you? Can you love the living in the same way that you have love for the dead? Is darkness hindered by light?
SOURCE: Cervantes Theatre website.
(2018) Masters of the Universe [Los amos del mundo], by Almudena Ramírez-Pantanella. Commissioned by the author and performed as a rehearsed professional reading at the Cervantes Theatre, London, 5 July 2018, directed by Almudena Ramírez-Pantanella, as part of the Out of the Wings Festival, 2–6 July 2018.
Two lost souls, separated by a train platform. A shocking event that will change one commuter’s life forever. Miguel, a confident young intern in a flashy suit, seems to have it all. He’s got a cushy job waiting for him when he finishes his placement in the city, and he has a nice middle class family egging him on.
For the moment, he’s the master of all he surveys. But what happens when events take a course of their own, and the very things you thought were sure in life don’t make sense anymore? What happens when your only hope is hopelessness and the only thing you can depend on is yourself? What happens when the masters of the universe find they no longer have any power?
SOURCE: 2018 Out of the Wings Festival programme.
(2017) Mendoza, by Antonio Zúñiga and Juan Carrillo. Commissioned by the CASA Latin American Theatre Festival for performance as interlingual surtitles at the Southwark Playhouse, London, 24–28 October 2017, directed by Juan Carrillo.
An earthy, radical reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth set during Mexico’s War of Independence in the early 19th Century. General Mendoza is returning to camp when he stumbles across an old witch who prophesises that he will come to lead the army. Convinced into action by his wife, he begins a chain of grisly murders that will come to seem endless.Inspired by Juan Rulfo and Elena Garro and deeply connected to the Mexican soil, this thrilling fast-paced and blood-soaked ensemble production exposes Mexico’s downward spiral into the gruesome violence that exploded into the world’s consciousness with the massacre of the 43 students of Ayotzinapa.
SOURCE: Southwark Playhouse programme.
(2016) No Direction [Sin dirección], by Miguel Alcantud and Santiago Molero. Commissioned by Words without Borders and performed as a rehearsed professional reading at the Martin E. Segal Theater New York, 13 December 2016, directed by Debra Caplan.
No Direction, by Miguel Alcantud and Santiago Molero, and translated by Sarah Maitland, makes the most of microtheater’s capacity to explore new modes of dramaturgy. The setting is tense, claustrophobic, and confusing by design. A man appears to be locked inside a basement or bunker room. There is a woman, Ana, who insists that he cannot be let out. Although the audience never learns his name, we are pulled inexorably into the mysteries surrounding the man’s evolving story. Alcantud and Molero craft their play in a space of temporal dislocation that requires spectators to collude in the destruction of any narrative structure that has a clear beginning and end.
SOURCE: Maitland, S. (2016) ‘The world on stage: Micro-plays in translation’, Words Without Borders, 1 December. Available at: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2016-12/december-2016-microplays-the-world-on-stage-sarah-maitland/ (Accessed: 10 October 2024).
December 2016 issue of Words without Borders
I was asked to guest edit the December 2016 issue of Words without Borders magazine, and chose the emerging area of microtheatre translation. I ran an international call for submissions, edited the successful plays for publication and helped support a series of rehearsed readings on 13 December 2016 at the Martin E. Segal Theater New York.
(2015, 2006) Nina, by José Ramón Fernández. Performed as a rehearsed professional reading at the Canada Water Cultural Space London, 22 May 2015, directed by Andy Dickinson, and the Rose Theatre London, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance 11 May 2006, directed by Iain Reekie, commissioned by Caos Editorial.
(2011) Inside the Earth [Dentro de la tierra], by Paco Bezerra. Commissioned by Caos Editorial and performed as a rehearsed professional reading at the Rose Theatre London, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance 31 May – 2 June 2011, directed by Colin Ellwood, and the New Diorama Theatre London 3 June 2011, directed by Colin Ellwood.
Winner of the 2007 Calderón de la Barca prize
Dentro de la tierra, on which Inside the Earth was based, was awarded the 2007 Premio Nacional de Teatro Calderón de la Barca by the Ministry of Culture through the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM) in recognition of merit and to encourage the work of young dramatists.
Find out more about the play and its 2017 production at the Centro Dramático Nacional here.
(2010, 2005) On the Rock [En la roca], by Ernesto Caballero. Performed as a rehearsed professional reading at the Brian Friel Theatre Belfast 26 November 2010, directed by Sarah Maitland, and the Rose Theatre London, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance 28 April 2005, directed by Ben Jancovich and commissioned by Caos Editorial.
(2009) Agrippina [Agripina], by Fermín Cabal. Commissioned by Caos Editorial and performed as a rehearsed professional reading at the Rose Theatre London, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance 13 October 2009, directed by Colin Ellwood, and the Unicorn Theatre London 16 October 2009, directed by Colin Ellwood.
(2007) Mad King Ludwig [Rey loco], by Lourdes Ortíz. Commissioned by Caos Editorial and performed as a rehearsed reading at the Rose Theatre London, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance 26 October 2007, directed by Colin Ellwood.
Other Spanish-English theatre translation commissions
(2021, 2019) Coup de Grâce [Golpe de gracia], by Almudena Ramírez-Pantanella. Commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre, London, as part of the Royal Court Summer Residency 2019: Focus Europe international residencies programme.
(2020) Operating Theatre [Quirófano], by Almudena Ramírez-Pantanella. Commissioned by the author and funded by the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, SGAE).
(2019) A Universe (Alone) [Un universo (solo)], by Fernando de Retes and María Prado. Commissioned by Cuartoymitad Teatro.
(2009) The Cartographer [El cartógrafo], by Juan Mayorga. Commissioned by the Centro Dramático Nacional.
Spanish-English subtitling and subtitle arrangement
(2020) Quiero ser enjambre, by Juan Mayorga. Subtitle arrangement commissioned by the author.
(2019) A Universe (Alone) [Un universo (solo)], by Fernando de Retes and María Prado. Subtitling and subtitle arrangement commissioned by Cuartoymitad Teatro.
Screenplay translation
(2021) Untitled screenplay translation, series bible translation and adaptation, commissioned by Genomedia.