Adaptation/Construction/Deconstruction

[Shemina Keshvani]

On Wed, 14 Feb 1996, Glen Nichols wrote:
 
>
> >  We've all seen the kind of "adaptation" that makes us ask,
> > "Why didn't they just write their own play?"
>
> If what I said above is true, then the two phenomena you cite are really
> just two points on the performance continuum. Aren't ALL productions of
> any play really "adaptations" on some level, anyway? We just give them
> that name when they reach a certain intensity of "adjustment".  Likewise,
> couldn't one also suggest that any play written is also an "adaptation"
> of everything the playwright has read and seen before?  If this is true
> than perhaps by adapting the play, they DID write their own... if you
> follow my logic.
 
Your comments about adaptations are well taken but the logical conclusion
of saying "all productions are adaptations" implies the that there is
some absolute, final, fixed written text. I would be hesitant to suggest
anything of the sort. More likey, the text is not complete until it is
performed and there may be a multitude of possibilities for the
completion of that text. Perhaps it is not that they wrote "their own"
play but that the "writing" isn't over until the performance is "sung".
 
Shemina Keshvani