Bio

Richard Huddleson is a translator, community interpreter, and Assistant Professor at Ollscoil na hÉireann, Mhá Nuad / National University of Ireland, Maynooth. After completing his doctorate in Catalan Studies at Queen Mary, University of London, he continued working in the area of Catalan Language and Culture at the Univeristy of California, Los Angeles, and University College Dublin. He was also a visiting researcher at the London School of Economics in 2023.

His doctoral research focused on the translation of contemporary Catalan theatre, but he has since begun exploring the role of youth in protecting and maintaining the Catalan language.

Project

He will use his time at Faberllull Olot to think about Steve Redhead’s concept of claustropolitanism and how this structure of feeling permeates contemporary Catalan theatre, particularly in the wake of economic ruin, environmental disaster, linguistic imperialism, and assaults on Catalan identity by the Spanish State. As property prices and our everyday bills rise, unemployment and underemployment become the new norm, and our planet and democratic systems slowly fail and die, it's hard not to feel trapped or even cursed. People are helpless when confronted with tehir own undoing... But what do dramaturgs do with these complex feelings? What can we learn about ourselves and our futures when we enter the malestrom?