Adaptation in Contemporary Theatre: Performing Literature

Why are so many theatre productions adaptations of one kind of another? Why do contemporary practitioners turn so frequently to non-dramatic texts for inspiration? This study explores the fascination of novels, short stories, children’s books and autobiographies for theatre makers and examines what ‘becomes’ of such texts when these are filtered into contemporary practice that includes physical theatre, multimedia performance, puppetry, immersive and site-specific performance, and live art.

Through its prologue and substantial first chapter, Adaptation in Contemporary Theatre sets out a series of fresh critical perspectives on the theory of adaptation in theatre-making. Subsequent chapters are devoted to the various literary sources for adaptation, with each chapter examining the characteristic features, restrictions and potency presented by the source material, before tracing the ways that they are played out in recent performance projects.