How many times have you heard that? Sometimes it seems people know the great literary classics from the stage, film or television versions rather than from reading the original. Everyone knows “Les Miserables,” “Oliver Twist,” “Little Women” and other classics, but is their knowledge from the novel? More likely not. Since the theatre is so much older than movies and television, stage versions of classics have been around for a long time. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was a bestselling novel but it was also the most produced play in America in the 19th century. There were dozens of stage versions of “Christmas Carol” within weeks of the publication of Dickens’ original novella. And it seems both Hollywood and Broadway are returning to the classics more than ever, making Jane Austen, Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, and even Homer more visible than ever. Is this a good thing? Can a stage version of a classic do it justice? Are we enlightening our audiences or short-changing them? Most would agree that a theatre production allows characters and dialogue to come alive in ways not possible on the page. While your imagination might soar reading a great literary work, there is a different kind of thrill that comes with seeing the story enacted on stage. Novels and short stories are usually written in the past tense; books tells us what happened. But a play is in the present tense; it is happening now right before our eyes. To read about the ghost of Jacob Marley and how he haunted Scrooge is very different from seeing the ghost on stage and watching the events as they unfold. Better? Not necessarily. But very different. Let’s look at some of the reasons why literary classics can be so effective on stage. 1. Once upon a time: Story. While many modern classics may not emphasize plot as much as character, the great literary works of the past were story-driven. From the epic poems of Homer to the intricate and complex novels of Charles Dickens, what happened in the plot was essential. These works had great stories to tell and, regardless of all new trends over the centuries, story is still one of the theatre’s most appealing aspects. The plot of “The Odyssey” or “Great Expectations” might have to be simplified and edited for the stage but each still has a rousing good story to tell. I have adapted both titles for the stage and even in a condensed form the plots are riveting to audiences. There is usually a “what’s going to happen next?” reaction to great literary works and this attitude is only increased when the tales are performed on stage. Even when the story is not epic in length, there is usually plenty of story to make an engrossing play. When I took the short tales of Ovid and adapted them into “Mankind & Co.,” one of the oldest collections of tales came alive, even as we tweaked each story and gave them a modern tone. The short stories of O. Henry are brief but still plot-driven. In a short time, O. Henry creates suspense and tops each tale with a famous twist. Adaptations of “The Last Leaf” and “The Gift of the Magi” work on stage because O. Henry still knows how to grab an audience. Sometimes the story is so familiar to the audience that one wonders how it can sustain the interest of the spectators. But “Mr. Scrooge’s Christmas” (our version of “A Christmas Carol”) is all the more fun because the audiences already knows and loves the story. It is the same reason young and young-at-heart audiences continue to view stage adaptations of famous fairy tales. Familiarity of plot can be as potent as not knowing what is going to happen next. 2. Speak the speech: Dialogue The way people have conversed over the centuries has changed radically, yet good dialogue is still good dialogue. In some literary works, the adaptor must alter, simplify or even recreate dialogue for the stage because the original piece is written in an archaic format that is sometimes strange to our ears. Other times the conversations just jump off the page and sound as vital and alluring as they did in the past. Dialogue in Homer tends to be formal, wordy and (depending on the translation) unconversationally poetic. Yet Dickens’ dialogue is still funny, heartbreaking, and very conversational. When I adapted such beloved classics as “Jane Eyre” and “Little Women,” there were scenes that sounded theatrical and alive, while there were other sections of dialogue were too stiff and unnatural for modern audiences. O. Henry’s dialogue sparkles, but often there are references to people or things that are not known to spectators today. Many stage adaptations use narrators or have one of the characters serve as a spokesman because the original author’s commentary is too delightful to miss. The storytelling itself is often terrific dialogue. Other times such narrators are used to keep a complex plot moving or to summarize events and emotions that are difficult to stage. But in a good stage version of a classic, the original’s author’s tone and persona should be very much alive. 3. Unforgettable people: Character. Ebeneezer Scrooge, Jo March, David Copperfield, Cinderella, Odysseus, and their like are among the most fascinating characters ever created by writers. That fascination is not limited to the page and people who intrigue us in books can often thrill us even more when portrayed by actors on the stage. Theatre adaptations must strive to bring such literary figures to life, being accurate to the original and yet taking a definite approach to characterization. Just as there are many ways to play Hamlet, Oedipus or Henry Higgins, there must be as many choices when putting a non-theatrical original character in a play. Literary classics abound with memorable characters and it is the job of the adaptor and the actors to be true to that memory yet create new memories. Reading about people who lived and died long ago can be entralling; but seeing characters from a distant time come alive on stage can be even more vivid. Larger than life characters can seem even larger when portrayed on the stage. 4. Familiarity breeds content: Name recognition Finally, it cannot be denied that audiences often recognize the titles and/or authors of great literary pieces even if they are not very familiar with them. A classic title or a famous author still have marquee value and spectators instinctively know that this is a famous and worthwhile work. One may only have read “Tom Saywer” but the presence of Mark Twain’s name promises adventure and humor. “Great Expectations” may only be a title to some, yet each recognizes that title, knows it hs been around for a long time, and suspects there must be something to it. Seeing a classic on stage is less daunting that picking up the thick novel and the result is usually a pleasant surprise when one encounters it in a theatre. So is a stage adaptation merely a Cliffs Notes version of a classic or a new and revealing work of its own? One can only answer that by experiencing a faithful but not slavish theatre production based on a literary work. Did it thrill? Did it intrigue? Did it bring you places that you had not been before? Great books are supposed to do that. Sometimes theatre can too. ********************* Thomas Hischak has adapted many classics for the stage and is the author of fifteen books on theatre, film, and popular music, including the textbook “Theatre as Human Action” and “The Oxford Companion to American Theatre.” His works can be found at amazon.com. | 
