Yasmina Reza

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Yasmina Reza (born 1 May 1959 or 1960[1]) is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter. Her parents were both of Jewish origin, her father Iranian, her mother Hungarian.[2]

Contents

[edit] Career

Reza began work as an actress, appearing in several new plays as well as in plays by Molière and Marivaux.

In 1987 she wrote Conversations after a Burial, which won the Molière Award, the French equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award or the Tony Award, for Best Author. Following this, she translated Kafka's Metamorphosis for Roman Polanski and was nominated for a Molière Award for Best Translation.

Her second play, Winter Crossing, won the 1990 Molière Award for Best Fringe Production, and her next play The Unexpected Man, enjoyed successful productions in England, France, Scandinavia, Germany and New York.

In 1995, Art premiered in Paris and went on to win the Molière Award for Best Author. Since then it has been produced world-wide and translated and performed in over 30 languages. The London production received the 1996-97 Laurence Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award. Life X 3 has also been produced in Europe, North America and Australia. Screenwriting credits include See You Tomorrow, starring Jeanne Moreau and directed by Didier Martiny.

In September 1997, her first novel, Hammerklavier, was published and a new work of fiction, Une Désolation, was released in 2001. Her newly-published 2007 work L'Aube le Soir ou la Nuit ("Dawn Evening or Night"), written after a year of following the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy has already caused a "sensation" in France.[3]

On 24 November 2007 her play Le Dieu du Carnage, (The God of Carnage) directed by Jürgen Gosch and performed first in Zürich, received the Viennese Nestroy-Theatreprize for the best German-language performance of the season. It opened in London in March 2008, directed by Matthew Warchus in a translation by Christopher Hampton starring Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott.[4]

[edit] Works

[edit] Plays

  • Conversations après un enterrement (Conversations After a Burial), 1987
  • La Traversée de l’hiver (The Passage of Winter), 1989
  • « Art » ('Art'), 1994
  • L’Homme du hasard (The Unexpected Man), 1995
  • Trois versions de la vie (Life X 3), 2000
  • Une pièce espagnole (A Spanish Play), 2004
  • Le Dieu du Carnage, 2006 (God of Carnage)

[edit] Novels

  • Hammerklavier[5], 1997
  • Une désolation (Desolation), 1999
  • Adam Haberberg, 2003
  • Nulle part, 2005
  • Dans la luge d'Arthur Schopenhauer (On Arthur Schopenhauer's Sledge), 2005
  • L'Aube le soir ou la nuit, 2007

[edit] Screenplays

  • Jusqu'à la nuit, (Till Night) 1983 (she also acted in this)
  • Le pique-nique de Lulu Kreutz (Lulu Kreutz's picnic), 2000

[edit] As actress

  • Que les gros salaires lèvent le doigt ! (Let the Fat Cats Lift a Finger!)1982 (as a chambermaid)
  • À demain (Till Tomorrow), 1991
  • Loin (Faraway), 2001

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ According to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, she was born in 1960.
  2. ^ Pigeat, Aurélien (2005). Art, 1994: Yasmina Reza (in French). Paris: Hatier. ISBN 2218750899. 
  3. ^ Elaine Sciolino, "Portrait of President, Craving Power, Enthralls France", New York Times, August 24, 2007
  4. ^ Paddock, Terri (2007-12-24). Greig, McTeer & Stott Join Fiennes God of Carnage. What's on Stage. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
  5. ^ The title is a German word for 'piano', used in particular by Beethoven for a late sonata.
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