A sense of ownership of the written word is diffuse in theatre, and giving voice to others may literally mean letting the performers put the text into their own words through devising or improvisation. Many involved in contemporary performance practice argue that the very notion of a playwright or script is redundant, since it prioritizes word over body, text over visual, written over spoken. In this context, the dramatic and theoretical work of Hélène Cixous is examined, with the suggestion that the emancipated voice in performance represents a feminine counter to the masculine tradition of (written) literature. Voice and song are key concepts; the idea is that speech is closer to the unconscious than writing and in theatre creates a liberating force within a political agenda. In following an improvisational strategy, the translator is therefore mediator not just of the musicality of the text, but also of the political agenda behind it.