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Dissertation Research - Stage to Screen: Why do we like adaptations ov


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Hi everyone!

 

I'm a final year student studying Technical Theatre (BA Hons) at the University of Derby currently working on my dissertation.

 

My dissertation is looking into why productions are being adapted multiple time for the stage and being produced as films/tv series' (as apposed to films being made into stage productions). It would be extremely useful to get theatre professionals views on this subject, and to gain in insight into why people are preferring to see adapted pieces rather than original material.

 

The link to the survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RDDWV6J

 

Thanks for taking the time to help me with my research.

 

Amy Kirkham

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Hmm. Interesting starting point, but ... what exactly do you mean when you say 'adapted multiple times for the stage'? Are you talking about different productions of the same play at different theatres? In which case, that pretty much answers that part of your question. Or do you mean something else? In which case, you need to explain.

 

Also, I'd bet that there are many more productions which have made the journey from screen to stage, rather than the other way around. In fact, off the top of my head I can only thing of Les Miserables. (Edit : a bit more thought suggests that Grease and Annie might also fit the bill. But I can't think of any others.)

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What a very odd survey - I didn't find the one question on adaption let me even answer. Frankly - it's one of the worst survey requests we've had. I cannot see any way you can quantify the data you collect, it's totally subjective, doesn't;pt explain what the questions actually mean. Are we considering chitty chitty bang bang, Rocky Horror, les mis, willy Wonka - or what? Didn't;t even think of grease or Annie. Surely movies are movies and theatre is theatre. I actually included some music events because I didn't realise I was only supposed to detail adaptions I have seen - the question just asked for a list of productions I had seen.

 

Strange!

 

 

EDIT - even more confused as I re-read the first post, and it's NOT about movies being adapted into theatre, but theatre being adapted into different theatre? Could you give an example, as I'm lost now.

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Just confuse matters further I can think of productions where theatre morphs into cinema and back into theatre in the same performance on the same stage! Brief Encounter (Kneehigh) and many of the shows from Forkbeard Fantasy spring to mind...

 

and incidentally, Brief Encounter (the movie starring Lesley Howard and whatshername) was adapted from a stage play by Noel Coward called Still Life (1926) before being adapted itself into the stage/screen hybrid by Emma Rice and Kneehigh. And I remember a stage version of Brief Encounter (based on the film other than the original play) which toured in the 1980s, produced by Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

 

so it's been going on for a long time...

 

I'm afraid however that I haven't completed the survey as like Paulears I'm a bit confused by the questions.

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Odd set of questions, odd first post.

 

Look at the wiki entry for The Russia House ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russia_House_(film) ) From the synopsis para 10 it's important to ask the right questions because the questions you ask show the limits of your knowledge. The right questions probe the listener to give their wisdom.

 

I suspect that some of the answers that you (don't?) want could include it depends on who holds the rights to the story/book/characters etc, and what their favourite medium is. If an author('s agent) sells the rights to a cinematographer then it will become a film, a theatre mogul would make a stage show.

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This is a terrible questionnaire which would not have pased muster in a GCSE exam twenty years ago. It will get you little useful data - bin it. Once more and hopefully for the last time - a questionnaire is almost always the WRONG METHOD. On reflection delete almost...
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I don't think we need concern ourselves with this any longer - Amy hasn't logged into the BR since a few minutes after her one and only post, so she clearly isn't interested in any responses that might be posted in this thread. http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif
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Hi all,

 

Haven't been active much due to working so I haven't had the chance to check what replies I might have had. Thanks to the people that have replied to this post and have filled in the survey. To give you a little more insight into my dissertation I'll go into more detail about what exactly I'm talking about. As mentioned in the original post it's about theatre adaptations, and films that have been produced after the stage production, not the stage productions that have been films first. Adaption basically means a piece of work that hasbeen modified or changed slightly from the original piece it was taken from (what I understand from the Oxford Dictionary).

Productions are obviously being changed slightly with each venue/director but these sorts of adaptions are a lot more common to see/hear about than original plays, for example Peter Pan has been adapted by multiple people for stage and has had multiple films made for it since it was first performed on stage (under the name Peter and Wendy or The boy would wouldn't grow up) in 1904 and wasn't written in book form until 1911. This film steamed from the stage production. Another one being Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew which had the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About you based on it: similar story line, adapted from it's original stage performance. What do audiences like about these productions, why do they go back to see a different version of Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland every few years? I'm researching the origins of the stories and the adaptions that are come from them starting on stage before being produced into films. I hope this better explanation give you more of an insight into my head.

Thanks for the time and thought you've took to help me out, sorry again that I haven't had chance to reply to you all until now.

Amy

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