Hello and thank you for visiting.
2024: I will again be facilitating the theatre strand of the BCLT Literary Translation Summer School in July. This is an online workshop, for anyone translating into English from any language. Details here. Applications close March 31.
2024: I am currently Interim Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre. For more about the work of the Royal Court and how to make contact with the theatre as a writer, please see here.
2024: Published this year, Your Language is Lying to You by Giuliana Kiersz in Theater journal, and an extract of my translation of The Earth-Eaters by Mafalda Bellido, in Asymptote Journal online.
2023: El Conde, now on Netflix. I provided translation and language consultancy for this Oscar-nominated horror satire by Guillermo Calderón and Pablo Larraín.
2022: A Fight Against… (★★★★★, What’s on Stage; ★★★★, Financial Times; ★★★★, Daily Telegraph; ★★★★, London Evening Standard; ★★★★, Reviews Hub) by Pablo Manzi, Royal Court Theatre.
I have worked professionally in the theatre since training as an actor in the year 2000. Since then, I have developed a career in translation, dramaturgy, projects and production, and education and knowledge-sharing, in English, Spanish, and multi-lingually.
I began translating plays in 2003, when I found Julio Escalada’s Springtime on a shelf at the Instituto Cervantes, translated it, and then staged it at the Finborough Theatre in London. For two nights we filled the auditorium.
Since that blisteringly hot London August, I have translated over 200 plays, many of them new works, for clients including the Royal Court Theatre, the BBC and the Gate, and for productions at the Old Vic and the Edinburgh International and Fringe Festivals. 
My translations of drama have been performed in the UK, US, Ireland, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Germany and Austria, and several have been published. I have also worked in other genres such as non-fiction, poetry, and novels.
In 2020 I was a finalist in the Valle-Inclán Award for literary translation from Spanish, for the Oberon Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Plays. Read more about the book at the publisher’s site here. For more of my latest news, please see my news page.
As well as translating myself, I have many years experience with organisations such as the Royal Court Theatre and the Out of the Wings Festival in a dramaturgical, consultation or management capacity on new-writing and international theatre projects. This includes reading and reporting on plays throughout their writing process, curating and designing festivals, marketing and social media, and overall long-term strategy.
I also mentor, teach and give talks about translation and theatre. I have done this for wide ranges of audiences, from school-age students to graduates, professional translators to theatre-makers, and the general public. I have advised companies like Foreign Affairs on programmes for teaching and promoting translation, given long-term one-to-one mentoring, and co-facilitated workshops at venues such as the British Library and the British Academy. I have also lectured on theatre translation at universities and given talks for professional associations. More on this here.
I was honoured to be selected by the British Centre for Literary Translation as Translator in Residence, alongside Olivia Hellewell, from October 2020 to January 2021. For more about this, click here.
I am the Translation Managing Editor of The Theatre Times, where I commission and write articles on international theatre, and also have written for publications such as Words without Borders, Broadway World and Everything Theatre and the theatre publishers Nick Hern and Oberon.
I am a Visiting Research Associate at King’s College London, working with the Spanish and Latin American Studies department on projects related to Ibero-American Theatre.
I learned Spanish (and French and German) at school in my hometown of Grimsby, a fishing port in the northeast of England. I then read Spanish and French at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and spent a year at the Escuela Navarra de Teatro in Pamplona, Spain. I then moved to London and trained as an actor at Drama Studio London.
Some highlights from my time as an actor include The Borrowers at the West Yorkshire Playhouse (now the Leeds Playhouse), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow, and Journey’s End on tour and in the West End.
I hold the Chartered Institute of Linguists Diploma in Translation and am a member of the Translators’ Association of Great Britain.
I have also worked as a translator in the commercial sector, and in operations, data and management roles in mental health, journalism and archives and information settings.
I hope you enjoy your visit.
‘I can honestly say that it is the best translation of a foreign language play that I have ever seen.’ Theatre Box
‘William Gregory’s translation is a gem.’ Theatre is Easy
‘William Gregory’s evocative, pithy translation wrings out every double entendre with poetic dignity.‘ The Stage
‘The translation, by William Gregory, is eminently speakable.’ Lighting and Sound America
‘Excellently idiomatic.’ Financial Times
‘I’ve seen Guillermo Calderón’s plays both done in Spanish and in English and I really wanted to commend William Gregory’s translation. I really thought he got the cadences, he got the rhythm, and everything.’ José Solís, Maxamoo.