When thinking in concentric circles, the play that must be translated is in the centre: the source text. Throught its linguistic elements it belong to the source language, and through that source language it partakes of the whole of the source culture. It also belong to the source literature which has a code of its own, a repertory of literary procedures. In the present article, the author attempts to show by means of translations from Soyinka how the three concentric circles can be translated, how a translation can be used to further change, both in cultural and literary terms, and how the repertory of literary procedures can be called upon to translate an author's intentions into a work of literature.