Belvoir's My Brilliant Career
Nikki Shiels as Sybylla Melvyn in rehearsals for the Belvoir production of My Brilliant Career. Photo © Brett Boardman

My Brilliant Adaptation

No one wants to hear a book on stage. So what makes a piece of literature ripe for adaptation? Jane Albert talks to some leading playwrights and directors about how to honour the original book, while breathing new life into it for the theatre.

In early 2018, director Sam Strong received a phone call from playwright and adaptor Tim McGarry, who was on holidays in far north Queensland. His animated caller had just put down an unpublished manuscript so brilliant he had read all 528 pages in less than 24 hours. He was captivated...