What Are The Challenges In Translating Comedy For The Stage: Laughs Sans Frontières

The Theatre Times: ‘We’ve been doing this play in our acting evening class. It’s absolutely hilarious, and I thought it was right up your street!’ One of my oldest and dearest friends, John, an English expat living in France since 1990, was talking about Qui est Monsieur Schmitt? by Sébastien Thiéry, and he was right. The moment I read the play I knew I was going to have to translate it, to see if I could do justice to this accomplished comedy.