In this article, the author states that a drama performance would not exist without an audience, and a translation depends – for its success and for its very existence as a translation – on the interests and cultural assumptions of the receiving system. The author draws the parallel between the reception of translated texts in general and that of source language performances. The paper studies the factors that constitute the situation in which both activities interact, viz. Translated drama. Some of the extra-textual features (the channel, the theatre-building and the use of the stage) that determine the reception of target text in performance and that may therefore play a key role in some of the decisions taken during the translation process of a source play are looked into.