Jewogle - Yasmina Reza

Biography:

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

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. 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 is to appear in London in 2008 starring Ralph Fiennes and Tamsin Greig.

Bibliography:

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

Novels:

Hammerklavier, 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

Screenplays:

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

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