Masquerade

Translators

Valentina Hine was born and educated in the former USSR and is now based in the UK. She is a freelance researcher and translator, whose work has been featured in major television productions, including Thames Television’s 1991 documentary series on Chernobyl and Central Television’s 1989–1993 series which included the film “Hello, Do You Hear Us?” produced by the Soviet Latvian-born director, Joris Podnieks in collaboration with the Soviet-British Creative Association. Behind the scenes, she has contributed translations and subtitles for Border-line Productions and London-based television studios. Beyond broadcasting, her translation projects in creative media have fostered cross-cultural dialogue between Russian and British cultural institutions. In addition to her freelance work, she has also been involved in higher education, serving as a language assistant at the University of Birmingham and a seminar tutor at Aston University.

Robert Leach is a retired academic, a writer and a freelance theatre director. He held senior positions at Birmingham and Edinburgh Universities, and his published work includes biographies, travel books and books of theatre history and theatre theory. His Theatre Workshop: Joan Littlewood and the Making of Modern British Theatre (Exeter University Press, 2006) and his two-volume Illustrated History of British Theatre and Performance (Routledge, 2019) were both shortlisted for Theatre Book of the Year. He has also translated plays by Sergei Tretyakov, which were published by Glagoslav Publications in 2019. His professional theatre work has included acting in the USA and directing in Moscow, where he staged the Russian premiere of the formerly-banned I Want a Baby by Sergei Tretyakov.