Thu, 7 Mar 2024 18:30 – 20:00
Digital Performance Lab, University of Salford MediaCity UK Campus, Prestwood Road Salford M50 2EQ
On World Book Day and the eve of International Women’s Day, we are delighted to invite you to a ‘Woman – book – Sandwich’ to celebrate 5 Hungarian plays translated into English for the first time by Dr Szilvi Naray. This is ‘more than just a book launch’ because excerpts will be performed alongside a panel discussion and talk about the importance of translation plays from central and Eastern Europe. The audience can contribute their thoughts on the subjects discussed and these will help influence the direction of future research in this area.
Plays from Contemporary Hungary: ‘Difficult Women’ and Resistant Dramatic Voices (Bloomsbury, Methuen Drama) is a unique and well overdue collection of five translated contemporary plays (extracts will be performed) from the illebral democracy from Hungary offering a microcosmic lens for understanding the paradox that today’s Hungary exemplifies. Together, the plays share stories of powerful women and explore what it means to be a family unit, all the while pushing against Hungary’s dominant hegemony.
This event will particularly appeal to small theatre companies as the plays are micro-budget productions and offer a special opportunity for such companies as well as students to engage with these witty, politically irreverent plays, finally in English, and help them reach a wider audience for the first time.
Szilvi is an academic, a drama translator and a theatre maker. In 2023 she won “ Best Cultural Sector Collaboration “ in the Established Excellence Category 2023 for The Dead Man at Salford’s Celebration of Innovation. She regularly publishes on feminist translation and is the Artistic Director of theatre company, Ignition Stage. The company will perform scenes from the book and take part in the discussion.
Ignition Stage aims to present different cultures via translated contemporary drama from central and Eastern European nations. Ignition Stage wishes to contribute to bridging the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’, by demystifying the idea of foreign plays and, therefore, foreign cultures. We aim to achieve this by selecting thought-provoking, yet entertaining, plays that translate well onto the British Stage in the English language.
You can read more about the new book here:
Find out more about the production of The Bat that took place last year
Watch a 3min video with snippets of The Bat here.
DIRECTIONS – PLEASE NOTE: The event is at the Digital Performance Lab at The Univeristy of Salford Media City Campus. The Univeristy of Salford entrance is opposite the side of The Dockyard on Pink. We will have greeters on the street and by the entrance to guide you! Full accessibility guidance can be found here: Media City UK University of Salford | AccessAble
Press images can be downloaded here [Create public shared folder of images and paste link]
For any queries or press enquiries please email – ignitionstage@googlemail.com