Maybe it's a classic, maybe it's the latest thing in prose.
You know as soon as you put it down that it would make a great play.
But how?What are the steps to take a dense work of fiction and turn it into a lively modern stage play? Here are a few suggestions:
- Copyright: If what you want to adapt is in the public domain, then you are able to adapt the work without obtaining permission.
Always make sure; just because an author is deceased doesn't mean their work is free reign.
Depending on the country, copyright can extend up to 70 years after the death of the author.
Learn what the rules are surrounding the copyright of your author.
If the novel was written in the twentieth century onwards, assume you need to acquire permission. - Have a Thesis: What do you want to do? The first questions you have to ask yourself are, "What do I want to do with the original?" What do I want the final play to show to an audience?" Knowing what you want as a final product is important as it will affect your approach.
Think about genre, structure, and style for your thesis.
Are you doing a straight adaptation? Abstract? Changing the form (e.
g.
turning a drama into a comedy)? Changing the era? What do you want the audience to experience with your version? The more you know about your approach, the more specific your adaptation will be. - When to be faithful: If you're dealing with something that is familiar with your audience, you must give them their familiarity.
You don't want the audience to be taken out of the world of the play as they wonder, "What about this part? Or this line?"A great example of this is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Every adaptation has the first line 'Marley was dead, to begin with' and every Scrooge utters the line"Bah Humbug.
" There had to be the ghosts of Past, Present and Future and even though the moments within each ghost section may change from the original, they maintain the intention of the original. - When to change: There's little point in doing a word-for-word move from book to stage.
What works in one medium will not always work in another.
And what will definitely not work is having characters standing still delivering page after page of exposition! What you change also depends heavily on your thesis.
For example, if you're doing a modern version of A Christmas Carol what changes would you have to make? Location, settings and situations.
The entire tone of the piece would change moving from Dickens London to modern London.
Perhaps it's not in London at all.
Perhaps Bob Chratchit becomes Bonnie...
this is how you maintain the shape of the original and yet put your own take on the story. - What to Keep, What to Throw: How do you determine what stays in the story and what goes? The first thing to do is become an expert on the original work.
Read through it.
More than once.
More than twice.
Keep reading until you know it like the back of your hand.
Be acutely aware of the stories and characters.
If there was a quiz show on your novel, you would win a million dollars, that's how well you know the script.
Next, highlight everything and anything that catches your eye.
Be it a particularly descriptive passage or something that made you laugh or cry.
For example, a vivid passagein A Christmas Carol is the description of how Scrooge's room had changes with the appearance of the Second ghost:...
Secondly, in a different coloured highlighter, highlight important plot points.
Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam...
These are things the audience must absolutely know to follow the story.
In a third colour, highlight all dialogue.
These are sections that will probably require the least amount of change.
Finally, in pencil (so you can change your mind!), cross out any passages that aren't necessary to the plot.
A good example of this is follows the above description as Scrooge leaves his room with the second ghost.
There is a lengthy detail of what the ghost and Scrooge see as they move through the streets of London.
A good read, but not necessary to the story.
Most adaptations take the two straight into Bob Cratchit house. - To Narrate or Not to Narrate: When going from prose to play form it's very tempting to throw in a narrator to get in extra plot points and description.
The thing is that narrators are not inherently theatrical.
It's the playwright giving up and letting the narrator tell the story instead of showing the story.
If you use one, the narrator must serve a purpose in the play.
They must have a character (and a name!) They must have a point beyond giving information to the audience.
On the plus side of using a narrator, books have the advantage of glorious rich settings that live in the mind's eye.
A narrator can be useful to create those same images in the minds of the audience, without having to build lavish sets. - Write the Play:Finally, you have to write! That's what all this work is leading up to - the actual writing of the play.
Above all else, remember, this is a play.
Plays depend on action and the action of the characters.
There should be no characters spouting pages of text just standing around! Adaptations are a lot of fun to write and can really illuminate the original work.
It's always interesting to look at a piece of literature from a different point of view or perspective.