Yasmina Reza
Yasmina Reza | |
---|---|
Born | Paris, France | 1 May 1959
Occupation(s) | Writer, actress |
Children | 2 |
Yasmina Reza (French: [ʁeza]; born 1 May 1959)[1] is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter best known for her plays 'Art' and God of Carnage. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues. The 2011 black comedy film Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski, was based on Reza's Tony Award-winning 2006 play God of Carnage.[2]
Life and career
Reza's father was a Russian-born[3][4][5] Bukharan Jewish[6][7][8] engineer, businessman, and pianist and her mother was a Jewish Hungarian violinist from Budapest.[9][10][11] During the Nazi occupation, her father was deported from Nice to Drancy internment camp.[12] At the beginning of her career, Reza acted in several new plays as well as in plays by Molière and Marivaux.
In 1987, she wrote Conversations after a Burial, which won the
In 1994,
In September 1997, her first novel, Hammerklavier, was published and another work of fiction, Une Désolation, was published in 2001. Her 2007 work L'Aube le Soir ou la Nuit (Dawn Evening or Night), written after a year of following the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy, caused a sensation in France.[14]
On 24 November 2007, her play Le Dieu du Carnage (
In collaboration with Polanski, Reza wrote the screenplay adaptation of her own play God of Carnage for the 2011 Polanski film
Her 2016 novel, Babylone, received the Prix Renaudot. The English version, translated by Linda Asher, was published by Seven Stories Press in 2018.
Awards and honours
- 1987 Molière Award for Best Author (Conversations After a Burial)
- 1988 Molière Award for Translation (Metamorphosis)
- 1990 Molière Award for Best Fringe Production (Winter Crossing)
- 1994 Molière Award for Best Author, Best Play and Best Production (Art)
- 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy (Art)
- 1998 Tony for Best Play (Art)
- 2000 Grand Prix du Théâtre de l’Académie Française
- 2005 Welt-Literaturpreis[17]
- 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy (God of Carnage)
- 2009 Tony for Best Play (God of Carnage)
- 2012 Cinema Writers Circle Award (Spain) for Best Screenplay (Adapted), for Carnage
- 2012 César Award (France) for Best Screenplay (Adapted), for Carnage
- 2016 Prix Renaudot, Babylone[18]
- 2020 Prix Jonathan Swift[19]
Works
Plays
- Conversations après un enterrement (1987). Conversations After a Burial, trans. Christopher Hampton (2000).
- La Traversée de l'hiver (1989). The Passage of Winter.
- « Art » (1994). 'Art', trans. Christopher Hampton (1997).
- L'Homme du hasard (1995). The Unexpected Man, trans. Christopher Hampton (1997).
- Trois versions de la vie (2000). Life x 3, trans. Christopher Hampton (2003).
- Une pièce espagnole (2004). A Spanish Play.
- Le Dieu du Carnage (2006). God of Carnage, trans. Christopher Hampton (2007).
- Bella figura (2015).
Novels
- Hammerklavier[20] (1997).
- Une désolation (1999). Desolation, trans. Carol Brown Janeway (2002).
- Adam Haberberg (2003).
- Nulle part (2005).
- Dans la luge d'Arthur Schopenhauer (2005). On Arthur Schopenhauer's Sledge.
- L'Aube le soir ou la nuit (2007). Dawn Dusk or Night: My Year With Nicolas Sarkozy, trans. Carol Brown Janeway (2008).
- Heureux les heureux (2013). Happy Are the Happy, trans. John Cullen (2015).
- Babylone (2016). Babylon, trans. Linda Asher (2018).
- Anne-Marie la Beauté (2020). Anne-Marie the Beauty, trans. Linda Asher (2021).
- Serge (2021)
Screenplays
- Jusqu'à la nuit (1983). Till Night.
- Le Pique-nique de Lulu Kreutz (2000). Lulu Kreutz's Picnic.
- Chicas (2010). Both screenwriter and director.
- Carnage (2011).
As actor
- Que les gros salaires lèvent le doigt ! (1982). Let the Fat Cats Lift a Finger!
- Jusqu'à la nuit (1983). Till Night.
- À demain (1991). Till Tomorrow.
- Loin (2001). Faraway.
References
- ^ http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb409560057/PUBLIC [archive] from the general catalogue of the BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France).
- ^ a b Keslassy, John Hopewell,Elsa; Hopewell, John; Keslassy, Elsa (1 November 2010). "Polanski's 'Carnage' rolls out sales". Variety. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Yasmina Reza: 'Please stop laughing at me'
- ^ Yasmina Reza: Biography
- ^ "Yasmina Reza talks about the influence of her late father". The Guardian. 3 September 2000. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022.
- ^ Yasmina Reza, écrivain d' "Art": De son père, juif séfarade, mi-russe, mi-iranien, dont le grand-père jouait aux échecs dans les caravansérails de Samarkand.
- ^ "The art of a second success". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 February 2016.
- ^ a b The tears and laughter of Yasmina Reza’s lost Babylon
- ISBN 2-218-75089-9.
- ^ The fragility and solitude of man
- ^ a b Bloom, Nate (17 April 2009). "Jews on stage: Broadway bound". Cleveland Jewish News.
- ^ Between Sarkozy and Sarcasm: Playwright Yasmina Reza on What Makes a Person Powerful
- ^ Day, Elizabeth (22 January 2012). "Yasmina Reza: 'There's no point in writing theatre if it's not accessible'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ Sciolino, Elaine (24 August 2007). "Portrait of President, Craving Power, Enthralls France". The New York Times.
- ^ Paddock, Terri (24 December 2007). "Greig, McTeer & Stott Join Fiennes God of Carnage". What's on Stage. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- ^ Staff (8 March 2009). "Speeches: And the Laurence Olivier Winners Said". WhatsonStage.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ^ "Yasmina Reza erhält WELT-Literaturpreis 2005 für ihr Lebenswerk". Buch Markt (in German). 7 October 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
- ^ Stéphanie Dupays (3 November 2016). "Le prix Goncourt est décerné à Leïla Slimani". Le Monde. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ^ Oury, Antoine (31 August 2020). "Yasmina Reza reçoit le Prix Jonathan Swift 2020". Actualitté. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
- Beethoven for a late sonata.
Further reading
- Les fruits de la passion: le théâtre de Yasmina Reza by Hélène Jaccomard (Bern: Peter Lang, 2013).
- The Plays of Yasmina Reza on the English and American Stage by Amanda Giguere (McFarland, 2010).
External links
- Yasmina Reza at IMDb
- "Yasmina Reza: 'Please stop laughing at me'" by Agnes Poirier: Independent on Sunday, 16 March 2008 [1]