This article illustrates the translator’s complex interaction with the various participants in drama translation. It reveals power relations in the relationships between the two cultures involved and between the various participants engaged in the intricate process of translating for the theatre; in the way translation is actually made and understood; in the role given to the elements (verbal and non-verbal) which make up the semiotic complex of the drama text; and even in the terminology used to describe the process and the final products. Mateo deals with power dynamics in the light of polysystems theory and draws examples from the Spanish theatre system as part of both the larger Spanish literary polysystem and the global theatre polysystem. She foregrounds the power of translation in the evolution of cultures and national identities, and raises questions about translation strategies and drama reception, ‘pseudo-translation’ and the translator’s status in the theatre conventions of the world.