The second of this collection’s interludes reflects on how the complexity and messiness involved in translating, discussing, writing about and staging Shakespeare are often minimised or disguised when such processes are turned into finished products for the page or stage. Using insights from Conversation Analysis, the interlude makes explicit the different choices involved in trying to represent an extract from the editors’ interview with Preti Taneja in written form, drawing attention to the assumptions underlying decisions about whether and how to translate, transliterate and/or transcribe linguistic and non-linguistic acts for particular audiences.