Malthouse Theatre presents Apologia

Apologia explores the desire of award-winning writer and director Nicola Gunn to become a French actress, breaking the language barrier by getting her voice translated by others.

“The piece is about my relationship with a French translator called Severin McGuire,” Ms Gunn told Southbank News. “I have asked her, as someone who is a professional French translator, if she could make me French.”

Part of a trilogy of works, the piece examines translation and interpretation through a series of comedic encounters.

Apologia explores the challenge of translation through ambisonics sound, film, and literature.

“It borrows elements from the visual arts, and it grows elements from theatre and more experimental practices,” Ms Gunn said.

Her works combine theatre, choreography, and visual art to explore the fragility of the human condition. Her previous works include Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster, Working With Children, In Spite of Myself, and Hello My Name Is, which have been performed in Australia, Europe, and the Americas.

“We're trying to create a series of different realities on stage,” she said. “The audience sits in a sonic landscape surrounded by 30 speakers, a very cinematic experience.”

Apologia runs until August 18 Malthouse Theatre.