The aim of this article is to show how the translation of The Beauty Queen of Leenane into Italian, La bella regina di Leenane, rewrites the space of the original play. Selected theoretical models of theatre translation are described an re-adapted in order to explain the impact that La bella regina di Leenane, first producedin Italy in 1998, had on the Italian audience. La bella regina di Leenane is analysed in the context of Italian theatre, first on textual level and subsequently on the level of performance. Major adaptive interventions concerning the Hiberno-English and the realia of the original are considered, in the context of the meaning that La bella regina di Leenane acquires in performance, as the recent 'performative turn' in drama translation has emphasized the importance of the various creative and translations options deriving from performance and the transformation of the translator into cultural mediator. Finally, the director'sreflections on his work and the critical reception from the Italian national press are used to demonstrate how the space of La bella regina di Leenane was reconfigured for Italian theatregoers.
