From a Written Work: a study and reflection about adapting the novel for live performance

Playwrights and other theatre artists have often turned to existing literary works when creating live performance. Research concerning the adaptation of literature to another art form previously centred on adapting literature to film; however this study has enquired into the adaptation of the novel for live performance. The study Adapting the novel for live performance takes the form of a metadiscourse, a created work and an exegesis. The study was undertaken in three ways: Firstly, the exegesis, which explored data researched through interviewing directors and playwrights; secondly, a created work, a playscript, that was an adaptation of the novel Vita Brevis, and finally, although placed first in the document, is a metadiscourse on the process of research and creation of the playscript.The term adaptation is used in the specific sense of an author, artist, screenwriter or playwright, taking a work of literature, written with the intention of being read in its own style and detail over a period of time, which is then transformed into another art form. And particularly, for this study, adapted for live stage performance.The study succeeded in:¢ Finding an appropriate novel to adapt for live performance¢