What do Matilda, The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time and Noughts & Crosses have in common? You guessed it: they are all book sources of highly successful stage adaptations. Theatre-makers continue to reinvent canonical stories – such as Romeo and Juliet, the Mahabharata and 1001 Nights – into new plays, musicals, puppetry shows and pantomime, while audiences flock to see them. Why, you might ask, are adaptations so popular nowadays? And how exactly do artists create them?
You will gain knowledge of the foundational building blocks of storytelling, and you will understand how these can be rearranged into new shapes. In our lectures and seminars, we will consider examples of how character, story structure, language, culture, medium, genre and ideology can evolve from one version to another. In our workshops, we will experiment with adaptation shifts in practice. We will also pay particular attention to the representation of race, gender and/or disability.
You will devise a practical adaptation based on a well-known source of your choice. You will also review adaptation techniques by discussing a case study. This module will equip you with the cultural competences, critical awareness and creative toolbox that will make you highly employable in any creative field.
Lecture & Seminar: 18 hours
Workshop: 27 hours
Main Assessment methods:
Presentation.
15 minutes
Assessment Details: Project Pitch. Worth 40%.
Performance
10 minutes Performance.
Assessment Details: Practical adaptation. Worth 60%.
Reassessment Method:
Like-for-like: For the performance element, this will be a recorded performance - 10 mins for group re-sits, 5-10 mins for individual re-sits.
The University is committed to ensuring that core reading materials are in accessible electronic format in line with the Kent Inclusive Practices.
The most up to date reading list for each module can be found on the university's reading list pages.
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1. Discuss and test how the main building blocks of storytelling work and relate to one another.
2. Analyse adaptations by mapping their main shift(s) and the methods through which these shifts are realised.
3. Create a critically aware adaptation of a well-known, relevant source by re-envisioning it for a new audience.
4. Choose and implement adaptation practices that are informed by contemporary creative methods, debates about adaptation, and discourses about equity, diversity and inclusion.
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