Contemporary Drama in English 16

Monika Pietrzak-Franger, Eckart Voigts-Virchow, eds.
Adaptations – Performing Across Media and Genres

Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-86821-148-1, EUR 32,50

The papers collected in this volume address the complex issue of stage adaptation. The essays enquire into the processes involved in theatrical adaptation, highlighting the multi-layering, hybridity and palimpsestuous character of onstage adaptations. They attend to a wide spectrum of problems which include issues of classification, the question of media and generic transpositions as well as the intra- and intertextuality of onstage adaptations. Various papers also address the processes and problems of transculturation and indigenization. This collection, therefore, offers a platform for a positive reconsideration of stage plays and live theatre in adaptation studies. In reverse, the study of adaptation also proves vital to the field of contemporary theatre and drama studies as it helps to deconstruct problematic notions of fidelity and originality, emphasizing instead the complexity of adaptive processes on the stage and beyond.

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