Page to Stage: The Craft of Adaptation

2013 | Essays

Theatre exists because of the human need to tell our stories. The process of literary adaptation allows a writer to take a beloved or intriguing story and make it life-sized on the stage, giving non theatrical texts a vivid voice: stories that speak to the moment and to the imagination. Page to Stage provides an essential guide for the many individuals and theatres who adapt literature into theatre pieces, a "how-to" book that leads them through a clear, workable process to create a stage-worthy play. Page to Stage's examples and exercises guide users through six essential building blocks to construct adaptations suitable for any stage, from the classroom to a professionally produced production. Page to Stage helps users evaluate a work of literature for its theatrical potential, to discern and appreciate particular elements and strategies (including aural values in the language, appeals to visual imagination, structural resemblance's to works of theatre, genre tropes, character types, implied mise-en-scene, etc.).

Vincent Murphy challenges scholars of literature and performance not simply to borrow ideas, but to apply theatrical analysis in their own original ways in order to identify in literature the elements and potentials of performance and theatre. The book will establish the systematic development of principles and techniques for literary adaptation and bridge the gap between literature and stagecraft.

Vincent Murphy (Author)