8th September 1977
Monsieur E.J.Dumay,
Rue de Gaulle,
21240 Talant,
France.
Dear M. Dumay,
My friend Eileen O’Casey kindly gave me your name
when I was enquiring about a French translator for
one of my plays called THE FLATS.
This play had had great success throughout Ireland,
has also had a successful production in Germany, and
is going on at an off-off Broadway theatre for the
second time this autumn. Altogether it has proved to
be a very popular play, and has been compared to
O’Casey - hence Eileen O’Casey’s interest in my work.
About a year ago when I was lecturing at the Sorbonne
a Paris group were interested in a French production,
and I began to think about a French translation.
If you would be interested I would send you a copy
of the play (it has been published and gone into two
editions), and I would also send you some of the notices
from Irish, American and German newspapers. I understand
from Eileen O’Casey that you have already translated
Figure in the Night and some of Sean’s later plays.
I don’t think, therefore, that you would find my idiom
particularly difficult. I should of course give you
every co-operation.
I am familiareenough with French, and visit Paris from
time to time, but I thought it best to write to you in
English.
Yours sincerely,
(John Boyd)
Literary Advisor,
THE LYRIC PLAYERS THEATRE
