How to make a play from a book - 

a quick, simple guide

Devised theatre: ten tips for a truly creative collaboration

Do your research, don’t obsess over plot and set aside time early on to explore everyone’s personal objectives for making the piece

The Studio Top Tips for Devising!

The Studio Process for Devising! 

1. Do your research - Find out why your story was written, what is it about, themes explored, key characters etc. Has it previously been adapted?

2. Create clear purpose and aims for your production and for each scene (once you start to create.)
3. Decide on your staging and setting, this can have a dramatic impact on how the audience receive your work.

4. Get up and work practically as soon as possible. Start by improvising and be patient, you may need to try lots of ideas before you find ones you want to keep- 

Get on your feet. Try things out, adapt and refine. Remember that you don’t have to create scenes in their chronological order even if you aim to present the finished piece that way. Improvise in role around a theme or scenario and keep what works. Don’t rehearse the same scene over and over again until it’s perfect during these early stages, however tempting it is. Only rehearse in detail properly when you can view the whole drama as a piece in its own right.

5.  Be clear on the plot, action and content - 

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• The plot of the drama is shown in the 'through-line' of the drama - its beginning, middle and end - although it doesn't have to be presented in a linear structure The characters in a play are also part of the plot.
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• The action of the drama consists on the events that the characters take part in as they act the play.
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• The content of the drama lies in the themes it deals with, eg bullying, the responsibilities of power, the bravery of ordinary people etc.
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From page to stage: the rise of the 'acted book'

Click here to read The Guardian's interesting and insightful article about adapting adult texts for stage. 

Page to Stage: Turning Children's Books into Theatre Productions

What does it take to translate a literary work into a play or musical? Step one: find the right source material

A great article on Turning children's books into theatre productions explaining why authors such as Roald Dahl and Michael Morpurgo write such great material to put on stage and how directors choose what texts to adapt for stage.

Creative Adaptation Examples

Creative adaptations are not just plainly putting the book on stage. 

Groups should take the book and adapt it CREATIVELY to make an engaging performance, whilst not losing the story. 

The story could be told from a particular perspective or you could transpose it some way. 

A good text for creative adaptation should have good amounts of action or 'events'. 

Make the most of important parts of the story and edit out the bits that are not needed for your adaptation.

You do not need to use the dialogue straight from the book. 

Below are some examples of Creative Adaptations. 
If you know the books you will see that they have been interpreted and made into something new.

The Red Shoes - Kneehigh

The Wild Bride - Kneehigh

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

Rebecca performed by Kneehigh

The Woman in Black

Lord of The Flies by New Adventures and Matthew Bourne

Matilda

Warhorse

Wizard of Oz

For videos on creating Creative Adaptations, click the links below

Making Curious Incident - long clip 'from page to stage'- full version can be found on Clickview
Curious Incident - Marianne Elliot - start at 3 minutes
National Theatre Making Beauty and the Beast

Prezi on Creative Adaptation

Useful Prezi on Creative Adaptations,

Today I watched a really good video from National Theatre Discover, which shows you how to create choreographed chorus work . Check it out and comment below to let me know your thoughts.