Translator of Piers Plowman, Death of a Hunter and over 1000 documents from French, German,
Italian and Spanish

Lecturer and Speaker on Elgar, Langland, the English language, translation, and
more

Actor and Reader of his own and others' work

Peter spent fifteen years in adult education in the UK, Germany and Soviet Armenia before becoming Head of Publications at the UNESCO Institute for Education in Hamburg. In 1994 he returned to the UK to work as a freelance translator and editor for cultural institutions, lawyers and international organisations.

At the same time he trained to act and began writing plays. He is now best known for his work on the composer Edward Elgar and the medieval poet William Langland, whose poem Piers Plowman was often quoted by Elgar.

Click below to listen to the opening of Peter Sutton's reading from his translation of Piers Plowman at the Swan Theatre, Worcester: a Worcester Repertory Theatre production.

William Langland’s poem Piers Plowman was completed 650 years ago. Peter Sutton’s translation of the poem into modern English alliterative verse is published by McFarland of North Carolina: mcfarlandpub.com.

"A highly readable rendition " Yearbook of Langland Studies

"Something distinctive to offer "Carl Schmidt

"A readable, rhythmic representation of the original"Choice

Peter Sutton's play Elgar and Alice was first performed on 5th June 2007.

This site includes extensive evidence of Peter
Sutton's knowledge
and experience, including click-to-play audio recordings,
lists of publications, full c.v., sample translations, testimonials
and transcripts.

DEATH OF A HUNTER

Edmund Dehn played Ernest Hemingway in Death of a Hunter, a new translation by Peter Sutton of Rolf Hochhuth’s play Tod eines Jägers, at the Theater Auf’m Kahn in Berlin, September-October 2017. The director was Anthony Shrubsall.

Peter Sutton’s other recent readings of his poetry include Ledbury Poetry Salons, Worcester Speakeasy and meetings of Herefordshire Stanza. In 2017 he performed at an Elgar Poetry Evening with poets Lesley Ingram, Nina Lewis and Michael Wyndham Thomas, and gave a poetry workshop for the Armenian Institute, London.