There were a flurry of updates and announcements earlier this month so here’s a summary.

I’m delighted to be among the likes of fellow translators Sasha Dugdale and Kathernine Halls working on a series of rehearsed readings of plays from around the world to be staged at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival (EIF).  Spirit of ’47 celebrates the EIF’s collaboration with the British Council in showcasing exciting international theatre and features work from Ukraine, China and Syria.

Two plays from Cuba and Chile will feature in my English translation, both created as part of the Royal Court Theatre’s long commitment to international work.

From Cuba, Laura Liz Gil Echenique’s Drainage Alley is a moving and intimate portrait of life in a forgotten street on the outskirts of Havana, where one woman strives against all the odds to stand firm in the belief that a better life awaits.  John Tiffany directs.

From Chile, leading playwright Guillermo Calderón (writer of B, forthcoming at the Royal Court) directs his own Discurso (Speech), a fictionalised imagining of a farewell speech by President Michele Bachelet.  Originally written during the Royal Court International Residency, Discurso was staged in Belfast in 2014 by Prime Cut Productions.  For the EIF, Guillermo is working on an updated version to reflect Bachelet’s second term in office.  Kika Markham, who played Bachelet for the original Royal Court reading, returns.

Meanwhile, in Manchester, the publication of Dark Habits will be marked later this week with an official launch on June 23 at HOME.  The anthology, commissioned to accompany HOME’s exhibition on La Movida, Madrid’s 1980s cultural awakening, features my translation of My Own Private Movida, a nostalgic essay by Spanish artist and writer Mercedes Cebrián.

I won’t be in Manchester for the launch, but that same night I will be joining international theatre company [Foreign Affairs] for an evening of discussion on the theme of ‘World Theatre in Brexit Britain’.  The event is free and we are looking forward to welcoming our audience to join in the debate.

And last but most certainly not least, the Ibero-American theatre collective Out of the Wings (OOTW) have announced our second annual week of play readings.  From July 10 to 14 at the Cervantes Theatre in London, we will present five new translations of plays from five countries: Portugal, Cuba, Spain, Uruguay and Colombia.  After having such a great experience last year with Blanca Doménech’s The Sickness of Stone, I am thrilled to be translating and directing Cuzco, a brilliant new Spanish play by award-winning writer Víctor Sánchez Rodríguez.  We have a fantastic cast and are hoping Víctor will be able to come to London for the event.  More news on this and on the other OOTW plays in the coming days.