Adaptation and Devising

Adaptation and devising are modes of theatrical creation that work without a conventional single-author script—adapting existing material for the stage, or generating performance collaboratively through improvisation and research.

Definition

The study of theatrical adaptation of existing material and of devising, the collaborative creation of performance without a pre-existing script.

Scope

This topic covers two related practices: adaptation, the reworking of novels, myths, histories, and other texts into performance, and devising, the collaborative creation of theatre by a company through improvisation, physical exploration, and research rather than from a finished playwright's script. It examines their methods, their relation to authorship and source, and their prominence in modern experimental and ensemble theatre.

Core questions

• How is non-dramatic material adapted into performance?
• How do companies generate theatre collaboratively through devising?
• How do adaptation and devising rethink authorship and the source text?
• What methods and processes structure devised creation?

Key concepts

• devising
• collective creation
• adaptation
• fidelity and the source text
• improvisation
• authorship

Key theories

Devising as collaborative process

Alison Oddey's account of devising as a self-determining, collaborative process in which a group generates its own performance material, redistributing authorship across the company.

Adaptation as creative reinterpretation

Linda Hutcheon's theory of adaptation as a distinct creative act of repetition with variation, to be judged as its own work rather than against a standard of fidelity to a source.

History

Collaborative and adaptive creation has deep roots in popular and oral traditions, but devised theatre as a named practice grew with the collective and experimental companies of the 1960s and after, while adaptation, long central to theatre from Greek drama to opera, became a distinct field of study with the rise of adaptation theory in literary and performance scholarship.

Debates

Fidelity versus freedom in adaptation

Scholars debate whether adaptations should be judged by their faithfulness to a source or valued as autonomous creative works, with adaptation theory largely rejecting fidelity as the primary criterion.

Key figures

• Alison Oddey
• Linda Hutcheon
• Deirdre Heddon
• Jane Milling

Seminal works

• oddey1994
• hutcheon2006
• heddon2006

Frequently asked questions

What is devised theatre?

Devised theatre is performance created collaboratively by a company through improvisation, research, and experiment, rather than staged from a finished script written by a single playwright in advance.

Should a stage adaptation be faithful to its source?

Adaptation theory generally treats fidelity as just one possible choice; an adaptation is its own creative work, and reinterpreting or transforming the source can be as valid as preserving it.