Katherine Mendelsohn
Translator
Film, TV & Theatre
Katherine is a translator of contemporary and classic plays originally written in French. Translations staged in the UK include work by writers from France, Québec and a variety of francophone African countries - contemporary plays by Togolese-French and Libyan-French writers, as well as contemporary classic French plays from the 1930s and 1970s.
She recently translated Guillaume Poix & Lorraine de Sagazan’s new creation LEVIATHAN for its English surtitles for Festival d’Avignon 2024 and its subsequent 2024-25 French tour, culminating with a month at Odeon, Paris: https://www.theatre-odeon.eu/en/season_2024_2025/performances-2024-2025/leviathan-24-25.
Katherine was International Literary Associate and then Literary Manager for the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh from 1999-2012. Managing/dramaturging commissions for Artistic Director Philip Howard and then for Artistic Director Dominic Hill, and working with associates John Tiffany, Roxana Silbert & Lorne Campbell.
Prior to that, she was Literary Manager of the Gate Theatre in London, and assistant to John Barton, Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as being an assistant-director at the Royal Court and to Mike Alfreds.
She was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her work with Francophone writers on UK stages.
In Development
Production | Company | Notes |
---|---|---|
A HUMAN VOICE | By Jean Cocteau. Translation mentored by Jo Clifford, with support from Creative Scotland's Open Fund. | |
GONZO | By Riad Gahmi. Translation commissioned by CIRCA, La Chartreuse d'Avignon. Script workshop at Pitlochry Festival theatre (dir. Amy Liptrott, with actors from PFT's season). |
Theatre
Production | Company | Notes |
---|---|---|
TRANSLATIONS | ||
LEVIATHAN | Festival d’Avignon 2024 / Institut Francais' Cross Channel Theatre programme | By Guillaume Poix & Lorraine de Sagazan. |
LA VOIX HUMAINE | Queen's University Belfast's Brian Friel Theatre | Part of of Seamus Heaney Centre's Words in the Air Translation Festival. |
THE GHOSTS OF ALLOUE | Cie du Veilleur | French original Les Fantomes d’Alloue by Rémi de Vos, a walking history of Maria Casarès' house for Matthieu Roy, Compagnie du Veilleur |
KNOCK HIS BLOCK | Theatre National de Toulouse, Theatre National de Bruxelles Company of Angels, Compagnie Nelson Dumont | Belgian original Tête à Claques by Jean Lambert for 'Pièces à lire sans frontières' (3-country Erasmus young audiences project with strategic education partners) |
SKINS AND HOODS | Cie du Veilleur | French original Même Les Chevaliers Tombent dans l'Oubli by Togolese-French writer Gustave Akakpo, (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, dir Matthieu Roy with UK cast) |
THIS CARCASS | French original Alors Carcasse by Mariette Navarro, commissioned translation for SACD currently being considered for staging | |
ZENITH | Sala Beckett | By Guillaume Poix by Simon Grangeat - short-play translation commissioned by L’Association Beaumarchais for Obrador d’Estudiu, international writers’ lab in Barcelona, run by Simon Stephens |
FEET FIRST IN FUTURE | Sala Beckett | French original Deux Pieds Demain by Simon Grangeat - short-play translation commissioned by L’Association Beaumarchais for Obrador d’Estudiu, international writers’ lab in Barcelona, run by Simon Stephens |
HOW TO BE A MODERN MARVEL® | Cie du Veilleur | French original, Prodiges® by Mariette Navarro (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, dir. Matthieu Roy) |
DAMASCUS | Traverse & Tricycle Theatre | Translator of French dialogues in Damascus by David Greig (dir. Philip Howard, Traverse Theatre, & tour to London’s Tricycle Theatre, and internationally to Canada, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan & Egypt) |
15 SECONDS | Traverse | Literal translation of 15 Seconds (Québécois original 15 Secondes) by François Archambault, for UK version by Isabel Wright (produced Traverse Theatre, dir. Roxana Silbert) |
SOAP | Traverse & Tron Theatre | Québécois original Téléroman by Larry Tremblay (staged readings 2002 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and Tron Theatre, Glasgow. Dir. John Mitchell) |
DRAMATURGICAL & DEVELOPMENT WORK | ||
REVOLUTION DAYS | Bijli Productions (Assembly Roxy & Glasgow Tramway) | By Mariem Omari |
THE RED SHED | West Yorkshire Playhouse | Dramaturgical advisor for Mark Thomas' The Red Shed (dir. Joe Douglas, Lakin McCarthy in assoc. with West Yorkshire Playhouse, Edinburgh Fringe Festival & on tour) |
HALLAIG | By Iain Finlay Macleod, for its workshop performance at An Lanntair, Stornoway | |
FIVE GOLD RINGS | Almeida | By Joanna Laurens (dir. Michael Attenborough) |
THE GIRL ON THE SOFA | Berlin’s Schaubühne & Traverse Theatre | By Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, UK version by David Harrower (dir. Thomas Ostermeier, Edinburgh International Festival – co-production between Berlin’s Schaubühne and the Traverse Theatre) |
POOR BECK | RSC | By Joanna Laurens (dir. Daniel Fish) |
THE THREE BIRDS | Gate Theatre, London | By Joanna Laurens (dir. Rebecca Gatward) |
Radio
Production | Company | Notes |
---|---|---|
FIRST LOVE | BBC Radio 4 | As Co-Director/Producer |
Other
Production | Company | Notes |
---|---|---|
SPACE/TIME | Magnetic North Theatre Company | Participant in artist's residency |
THE CHAIRS | Almedia Theatre | Wrote programme article on Ionesco for Omar Elerian’s production with Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni |
THE GHOST OF ALLOUE | Asymptote Journal | Translation of Rémi De Vos' THE GHOST OF ALLOUE published online in Asymptote Journal |
Dramaturg | UK dramaturg at C.E.A.D.’s translation residency, Quebec (writers included Stephen Greenhorn, Rona Munro, Evelyne de la Cheneliere and Olivier Choiniere) | |
Dramaturg | Dramaturg for Mariem Omari (Bijli Productions, resident at National Theatre of Scotland) | |
On-site 'Ferryman' Facilitator | On-site 'Ferryman' Facilitator (traductrice-passeuse) for Le Studio Europeen - international play creation residency at La Chartreuse - Villeneuve-lez-Avignon. |