We're proud to be part of a wider theatre translation community at Out of the Wings, with companies, collectives and initiatives around the world exploring how plays travel between languages. Here, Clara Ministral tells us about the Spain-based project, Entre Bambalíneas, which focusses on translating drama into Spanish.
It seems likely to be the case that anyone reading The Wings Blog is already aware that translation seeks to cross borders, to broaden people’s horizons and to foster greater understanding between different cultures. Many of this blog’s readers will also know (or suspect) that exposure to translated cultural products is much higher in many European countries than it is in the – still fairly Anglocentric, even if things have improved in recent years – UK. This certainly tends to be a positive thing in many ways, but can also prove something of a double-edged sword. It means that in countries like Spain, translation is so present in everyone’s (cultural) lives, and thus so devoid of the exoticism – or even mysticism – it still enjoys in some contexts in English-speaking countries, that it often passes unnoticed, and thus becomes somewhat invisible and appears less worthy of people’s attention. Bearing all these thoughts in mind, it’s very exciting for us to report that Entre Bambalíneas, a new group focused on reading plays in translation and looking at the ins and outs of the practice of theatre translation, has recently started here in Spain! Though before we explain how we operate and what we’ve achieved so far, it feels appropriate to acknowledge how we came into existence in the first place.
One of our founding members, Clara, used to live in London and having attended the brilliant Out of the Wings festival some years back, became a regular participant at OOTW monthly readings, both in person and online. Having moved back to her hometown of Madrid, she thought it was a shame something similar didn’t exist in Spain and how it would be great to try and translate – pun rather intended – the concept of Out of the Wings into something slightly different for an audience of Spanish speakers. She eventually came across a sufficient number of like-minded people in early 2024 through a theatre translation course run by Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Teatro de La Abadía which gave the impetus to try and make this a reality. It hasn’t always been straightforward for her, Alberto and Javier – those familiar with Spanish bureaucracy might smile knowingly at the thought of the many hoops to be jumped through when seeking to transplant cuttings from more pragmatic soil – but we are definitely now fully up and running!
From mighty English oaks, little Spanish acorns might grow… Entre Bambalíneas was officially launched in September 2024 and since then, a range of theatre lovers, translators, theatre practitioners and curious members of the public have met regularly to read aloud a play in translation and then afterwards engage in discussion and debate, always in the presence of the translator. At this early stage in our development, we are open to plays translated into Spanish from any language, and in our first three monthly meetings we variously enjoyed a modern Irish update on a classic Greek tale, Austrian political verse rooted in one of the Shakespeare apocrypha, and a portrayal of the plight of women in 19th-century Sweden. Our most recent gathering took us to 1950s France for an adaptation of Huit Femmes by Robert Thomas (a play known to many as the basis for the popular 2002 François Ozon film) and our next meeting in February will add Dutch to our international roster. We look forward to further travel both near and far later in the year as we seek to offer our attendees the widest possible exposure to the world of international theatre alongside a behind-the-scenes insight into the craft of theatre translation.
The group meets once a month – currently we come together at a public library in Central Madrid – and further information about what we do as well as an opportunity to join the mailing list can be found here. Future meetings are scheduled for the coming months in 2025 (with the exception of the scorching summer months of July and August), and anyone from the Out of the Wings community who happens to be in Madrid on the appropriate dates would be most welcome. If anyone would like to get in touch or needs any further information, please feel free to contact entrebambalineas@gmail.com; we’d be delighted to hear from you!
And on a final note, we are also especially keen to hear from anyone who translates into Spanish – from any language – as we are always on the lookout for plays to read and share with our growing community.
Have you launched a theatre translation collective somewhere else in the world? We'd love to hear about it. Find out how to contact Out of the Wings here.
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