Translating and rewriting Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend at the National Theatre

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article interrogates the translation strategies involved when transposing Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels into a play – the first produced in the UK. My Brilliant Friend, adapted by April De Angelis and directed by Melly Still, was based on the translation of the novels by Ann Goldstein and first staged at the National Theatre (London) in 2019/2020 following its success at the Rose Theatre, Kingston in 2017. In investigating the ‘making’ of the play, particularly through a series of interviews with De Angelis, the article examines how Ferrante’s works have been altered to suit the taste of its Anglophone audiences and what message the National Theatre is sending about the way in which the play and the use of non-standard languages in southern Italian drama have been translated on British stages. The article calls for stronger collaboration between the National Theatre, theatre practitioners, and translation scholars to foster greater cross-cultural understanding and help raise the general low status of translated theatre.