My translation year begins with Jauría, Jordi Casanovas’s verbatim drama fashioned from the statements of the victim and perpetrators of the Pamplona gang rape case that shook Spain in 2016. Although not graphic, it is nevertheless harrowing to translate, with the text offering a claustrophobic insight into the way a group of peers normalized their more »
Author archives: Tim
Correspondence (Roberto Osa)
Winner of the City of Malaga Prize 2019, Roberto Osa’s latest play, Correspondencia, is a dark comedy set before and after a funeral in small-town Spain. As the wake progresses, a family’s secrets are gradually revealed. Everyone rushes to view the deceased. SILENCE. MARTA: They’ve done a good job with her. EUGENIO: She looks a more »
Jauría (Jordi Casanovas)
My translation of Jauría, Jordi Casanovas’ play about the Manada case (a gang rape at the Pamplona Bull Running Festival, and subsequent trial, and social and political fallout) opened the Chicago International Voices Project 2020 on 2 September 2020. The original play, directed by Miguel del Arco and produced by Teatro Kamikaze in Madrid, won more »
Tenant (Paco Gámez)
My translation of Paco Gámez’s Inquilino (Premio Calderón de la Barca 2018) was produced by Cervantes Theatre, London, as part of its 2020 season of New Spanish Playwriting. It was directed by Paula Paz, and starred Sebastián Capitán Viveros. Tenant is the drama of a citizen who is forced to leave his apartment due to a more »
Spanish genitalia
A couple of weeks ago I did a Twitter thread on how Spaniards (and Gaditanos in particularly) pepper their informal speech with reference to genitals. The thread went viral (over 2 million views when I last checked) so I thought I’d reproduce it here. But do take a look at the original thread, too, as more »
Formas de estar lejos (Edurne Portela)
Formas de estar lejos is the second novel by Edurne Portela, following on from Mejor la ausencia. You can read my translation of the opening chapter and short introductory essay at the online edition of The Common. Rights are handled by her publisher, Galaxia Gutenberg. Contact details available on request.
Oda a Carrefour
Up on the Roof
A man, about 50 years old. He speaks Spanish with an accent that is at once identifiably local and non-native Christ! Here I am at the fucking beach and it’s closed. It’s over there. On the other side of some crappy barriers and some plastic tape. Is it because of all those people from Madrid, more »
La azotea
#Coronavirusplays Un hombre, de unos 50 años. En su acento se mezcla lo gaditano con lo extranjero ¡Coño! Llego a la puta playa y me la han cerrado. Allí está. Al otro lado de unas vallas cutres y una cinta de esas de plástico. ¿Será por los madrileños? ¿Los que han bajado a Cádiz, huyendo more »
What’s in a word?
Translators have a very intimate relationship with words. We are hypersensitive to nuance, tone, connotations, register… It’s something we are particularly aware of at those moments when we hit on that perfect translation, the word or phrase that captures the original – whether directly, because they match those of the original – or indirectly because more »