WHAT IS A GREAT FEAST OF LANGUAGES?
A Great Feast of Languages is a year-long international focus on translating Shakespeare for performance. It will involve a series of up to eight translation conferences and a chain of public panel discussions between British and international translators, writers, academics and practitioners.
Developed in partnership with Shakespeare’s Globe, the British Centre for Literary Translation and Writers' Centre Norwich, A Great Feast of Languages will be centred around five-day translation workshops bringing together translators, writers, actors, directors and academics to explore the challenges and complexities of translating Shakespeare’s plays and poetry.
All the workshops will examine a number of key Shakespeare texts, along with a Shakespearean text of particular local relevance. These workshops will also include sessions exploring the translation of dialogues, jokes, puns and the sonnets.
Translating for performance is at the heart of this project. In each country, local actors will play a key role in the workshops advising on the playability of new translations and the discussion will be enhanced by specially made video recordings of actors from Shakespeare’s Globe.
Alongside the workshops there will also be public panel discussions around key cultural and societal themes raised by translation and adaptation of Shakespeare’s writing. Online and through social media as the conference travels the world, participants will be able to share in the international discussion about the extraordinary international reach of just one writer’s work.
WHEN WILL EVENTS BE HAPPENING?
This project will have events running across 2016, tied in with festivals, book fairs and performances of Shakespeare’s work throughout the year.
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED IN A GREAT FEAST OF LANGUAGES?
More details about the workshops and public panel discussions will be published later in 2015 on the British Council Literature website.