The Australian Writers’ Guild is delighted that playwright, actor and screenwriter Matthew Whittet’s play Kindness will be translated into French for international audiences by the Paris-based Maison Antoine Vitez.
The theatre translation organisation, which specialises in contemporary plays, has received funding via Creative Australia’s Translation Fund for Literature. The fund supports international and Australian publishers in translating works, facilitating opportunities for Australian writers to reach new audiences.
Playwright Matthew Whittet said: ‘I’m so thrilled that the esteemed Maison Antoine Vitez team and their brilliant translator Sarah Vermande will be translating my play Kindness. For it to find new life in France is just an absolute honour and a thrill. I could not be more excited.’
Kindness had its world premiere at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2023 after originally being programmed as part of the COVID-19-cancelled 2020 season at Griffin Theatre Company in Sydney. The play follows a young man trapped by the loss of his brother and the group of friends who gather around him to talk and share stories, helping him to navigate his grief.
Translator Sarah Vermande said: ‘I was drawn to the life-affirming, finely crafted tribute to storytelling that is Kindness. At a time when the younger generation has so many reasons to doubt the future, I love how Matthew Whittet’s play focuses on resilience and the clumsy, cheeky and poetical ways very young adults find to be there for each other.’
The collaboration came about after the Australian Writers’ Guild forged a partnership with Maison Antoine Vitez as a way for Australian playwrights to develop their skills, extend the life of their plays, increase their market potential and earn income from international publications and productions.
Kindness is the first play submitted to Maison Antoine Vitez by the Guild to receive funding, and we look forward to seeing what further opportunities for Australian playwrights will emerge from this partnership.
Australian playwrights have a strong history of working with the organisation, with plays by Lachlan Philpott, Angus Cerini and Daniel Keene translated in the past.
