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Penny Black

PENNY BLACK

  
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Penny Black trained at Drama school in Vienna and worked initially as an actor in austria, returning to the UK in 1984. after a break to bring up her son, she started translating. In 1992 she was awarded a bursary by the British Centre for Literary Translation, Uea, to finish translating DeaTH aND the DeVIL (Peter Turrini). This was followed by YeS, MY FUeHReR, INCONVeNIeNCe and the GaLITZIaN JeWeSS (Brigitte Schwaiger), CIGGIe aND SWIGGIe and aS NIGHT FOLLOWS DaY (Christian Martin), the latter for the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill. the Arts Council commissioned her to translate SLaUGHTeRING the PIG (Peter Turrini), which was produced at the White Bear in 1995 (Time Out Critic's Choice). the 1995 Arts Council Theatre Translation Bursary enabled her to translate erwin Reiss's HaWKING's DReaM and she was commissioned by the Goethe Institute to translate the 1995 Mulheim Festival runner-up YOU SHaLL GIVe Me GRaNDSONS (Thomas Jonigk), which premiered in Los Angeles in 1996. Three further translations of children's plays were published as MaDe IN GeRMaNY - NINe CONTeMPORaRY PLaYS. In 1997 Penny translated the ReCKLeSS aRe DYING OUT (Peter Handke) for 606 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith (Time Out Critic's Choice) and MaLaRIa (Simone Schneider) for the Royal Court, published by Nick Hern Books. In 1999 again for the Royal Court, she translated KING KONG's DaUGHTeRS by theresia Walser. Her translations of odon von Horvath's SLaDeK and RUND UM DeN KONGReSS received readings at the RNT in 2001. She was commissioned by the National Theatre Connections to translate Christian Martin's STaRSTONe for summer 2002 and by the Arcola Theatre to translate Helminger's VeNeZUeLa which they produced in 2003. Her first original play MaKING BaBIeS was premiered at Heilbronn's Komoedie Teater (Germany) in 2004 and her second play SUDDeN SILeNCe received a rehearsed reading at the Arcola Theatre. She received an award from the austrian Ministry of Culture for her contribution to the translation of austrian literature.

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below is a list of Penny Black's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         As Night Follows Day         Ciggie And Swiggie         Death And the Devil         Galizian Jewess, The         Hawking's Dream         Heart Of A Boxer, The         Honey, I'm Home         Human Honey         Inconvenience, The         King Kong's Daughters         Making Babies         Malaria         Play In the Mountain         Reckless Are Dying Out, The         Rund Um Den Kongress         See No Evil         Sexual Congress, A         Sladek         Slaughtering the Pig         Sports Play         Starstone         Sudden Silence         Venezuela         Werfel Vs Odets         Yes, My Fuehrer         You Shall Give Me Grandsons
As Night Follows Day

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
translated from Christian Martin

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
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Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ciggie And Swiggie

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

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Death And the Devil

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Peter Turrini

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Galizian Jewess, The

Synopsis:
based on real life stories of those betrayed by their own people and helped by the enemy

Notes:
Original Playwright - Brigitte Schwaiger

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London, 1997   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hawking's Dream

Hawking's Dream
Stephen Hawking - world famous professor and astro-physicist, but what does he dream about? Sex amongst the stars, inflatable whales and powerful, nightmarish figures from politics and industry campaigning to introduce euthanasia into europe. Riess, himself confined to a wheelchair, takes a satirical look at recent social developments and the reappearance of policies from europe's darkest hour.

Notes:
Original Playwright - erwin Reiss. sub titled the Grand Unified Quantum theory Of Human Gravity

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Mammoth Productions

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Heart Of A Boxer, The

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Original Playwright - Lutz Hubner. the Heart of A Boxer (Germany) - theatre Cafe

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Honey, I'm Home

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Part of Miniaturists 10 - Bringing you more of the best short plays by some of the most exciting playwrights in the UK today

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Human Honey

Synopsis:
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Notes:
adaptation of the novel Absent by the Scottish-Iraqui writer Betool Khedairi

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Inconvenience, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Brigitte Schwaiger

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London, 1997   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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King Kong's Daughters

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - theresia Walser

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Goethe-Institut, 1999   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Making Babies

Synopsis:
looks at IVF and all aspects of fertility

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Heilbronn's Komoedie Teater, Germany     2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Malaria

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Simone Schneider

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "German Plays volume Two" published by Nick Hern, 1999   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Play In the Mountain

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Felix Mitterer

1st Produced:
-     2005

Organisations:
absolute Theatre

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Reckless Are Dying Out, The

Synopsis:
Humorous meditation on the narcotics of capitalism. [In listings this play sometimes appears as "the Unreasonable are Becoming extinct"]

Notes:
Original Playwright - Peter Handke

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rund Um Den Kongress

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Odon von Horvath

1st Produced:
Reading At The Rnt     2001

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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See No Evil

Synopsis:
looks at plastic surgery in terms of disability

Notes:
Part of Miniaturists 3 - Bringing you more of the best short plays by some of the most exciting playwrights in the UK today

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sexual Congress, A

Sexual Congress, A
Written just as the Nazis came to power, a Sexual Congress predicts with frightening accuracy the cycle of violence that was to spread throughout europe.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Odon von Horvath

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Plays 1, Oberon, London   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  20

Further Reference:
-

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Sladek

Sladek
Set in the inter-war period of raging inflation in Germany, these two plays portray the losers in what von Horvath called the gigantic battle between the individual and society'. In Sladek, Black's version being the first to be published in english, we see how social conditions lead people to desperate action and violence, opening the road for dictators and fascists

Notes:
Original Playwright - Odon von Horvath

1st Produced:
Reading At The Rnt     2001

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Plays 1, Oberon, London   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  cast of 6

Further Reference:
-

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Slaughtering the Pig

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Peter Turrini

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sports Play

Sports Play
Sports Play (written in 1998, original title: ein Sportstuck) is a post-Dramatic text that explores the marketing and sale of the human body and of emotions in sport. Jelinek questions contemporary society's obsession with fitness and body image and rejects the romanticized notion of sport as portrayed in today's media. She considers sport as a mass phenomenon and as a medium for chauvinism and fanaticism - sport as war. at the same time this is one of Jelinek's most personal plays in which she styles herself as "elfie electra" and mixes anger with self-irony. Blurring the boundaries between a theatre event and a sports event, this performance turns Jelinek's linguistic gymnastics into an Olympic feat for the actors and audiences alike.

Notes:
Original Playwright - elfriede Jelinek. Translators: Penny Black with Karen Jurs-Munby. Coinciding with the London 2012 Olympics, Just A Must in partnership with Austrian Cultural Forum London is staging the English language premiere of Sports Play by Nobel Prize winner elfriede Jelinek.

1st Produced:
Live At Lica (Nuffield Theatre), Lancaster     11 Jul 2012

Organisations:
Just a Must in partnership with austrian Cultural Forum London

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
translation - Post-Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3 doubling            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Starstone

Synopsis:
a story of love against a backdrop of conflict. anna and Starstone are opposites but their lives are inextricably linked. Christian Martin spent 40 years living behind the Berlin Wall. Starstone is set during the thirty years war in the 17th century. Modern day conflicts inspired him to write a parable for the present.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Christian Martin

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Hardenhuish School Chippenham (InterNational Connections)

1st Published:
Contained in: "International Connections" published by Faber and Faber 2002   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  3            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Sudden Silence

Synopsis:
about the effects of stroke and the methods used in recovery

Notes:
Sudden Silence - No Problems/Up on the Roof/Three Hard Blasts/Oyster

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Venezuela

Venezuela
In the night-time stations of inner-city Berlin, a gang of teenagers 'surf' trains. theirs is an uncompromising world, where language is tough and the stakes are dangerously high -. But when the gang tries to cover up the violent death of their eldest member on the tracks, a bizarre fantasy emerges -set in Venezuela. This rebellious, darkly comic story by German-language writer Guy Helminger recently won the prestigious Baden-Wurttemburg award for youth Drama.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Guy Helminger

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Werfel Vs Odets

Synopsis:
In 1943 Clifford Odet and Franz Werfel were in conflict. Odets was abandoning his left wings views as he was now a highly paid Hollywood scriptwriter. Werfel had arrived in California from europe warning what the Nazis were up to. a tale about a battle for Broadway.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Michaela Ronzoni

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Yes, My Fuehrer

Synopsis:
elderly woman remembers her time in the Hitler Youth as the best years of her life.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Brigitte Schwaiger

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London, 1997   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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You Shall Give Me Grandsons

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Thomas Jonigk

1st Produced:
Los Angeles     1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Goethe-Institut, 1996   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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