AustLit
Compiled by Dr Catriona Mills and Dr Arti Singh
- Australians and Adaptations
- Adaptations on Australian Screens: A Brief Introduction
- Adaptations on the Australian Screen in the Silent Era, 1900-1929
- Australian Writers Adapted Internationally
- Adaptations on Television
-
Data Visualisation: Adaptations from 2010-2019
- Data Visualisation: Adaptations from 2010-2019
- —. Graph 1: All Adaptations by Form
- Performance Works
- —. Graph 2: Film and Television
- —. Graph 3: Drama
- —. Graph 4: Musical Theatre
- Spotlight: Comparing Film/TV, Drama, and Musical Theatre
- Written Works
- —. Graph 5: Novels
- —. Graph 6: Picture Books
- —. Graph 7: Graphic Novels
- Spotlight: Comparing Novels, Picture Books, and Graphic Novels
- The Frequently Adapted
- Acknowledgements
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
His Natural Life
In terms of sheer quantity, His Natural Life may be the single most frequently adapted Australian work. Lurline Stuart, for example, traces no fewer than fourteen stage adaptations before 1900 (included in an appendix to her Academy Edition of the novel). A song was even written based on the novel.
Other adaptations do not appear to have ever been staged, including some by Marcus Clarke's daughter, Ethel Marian Clarke (who acted under the name Marian Marcus Clarke): the National Archives of Australia holds manuscripts for two adaptations credited to Ethel Marian Clarke, one from 1931 and one, co-written with Leslie Thomas Williams, from 1936.
Some of these adaptations even have adaptations of their own, which is, if not unique, certainly uncommon.
Begin exploring adaptations of His Natural Life here.
-
Marcus Clarke's epic novel of the brutality of Australia's convict past was first serialised between 1870 and 1872.
-
This stage adaptation of Marcus Clarke's novel was first performed in San Francisco in 1885.
-
George Leitch's version, performed in Brisbane, was the earliest Australian stage version of Clarke's novel, but only by a matter of weeks.
-
Thomas Walker's stage version of the novel appeared on Sydney stages barely five weeks after Leitch's adaptation had premiered in Brisbane. Walker's version also has its own adaptation (see the 1911 film below).
-
This adaptation, by an actor who worked under the name Inigo Tyrell, hit Williamstown stages just as George Leitch's version opened in Melbourne, much to Tyrell's irritation.
-
This version (which was produced in Manchester, England, and written by a Canadian-born, American-based script-writer) also appeared on stage in mid-1886, which was a boom year for His Natural Life adaptations.
-
Another 1886 production, this one was written by William South; it premiered in Wellington, New Zealand, in October.
-
The producer of this stage version, G.R. Ireland, published a scathing rebuttal of rumours that his company was performing McMahon and Leitch's version: 'With regard to the conversation between Mr M'Mahon and myself, I stated that if our version resembled any other, it was Mr Dampier's— that I would not risk a penny on the one he proffered to me.'
-
This adaptation of the novel got off to a rough start when 'Rufus Dawes' was stricken with fever on the day of the performance, and had to be replaced with an understudy.
-
Bad luck also dogged this performance of yet another stage adaptation, when the original Rufus Dawes was 'unable to appear due to an injury which he received during the first part of the season by falling down a trap'.
-
This adaptation was performed by a travelling company in Broken Hill in April 1891.
-
This adaptation was said to be rather more gruesome than its predecessors, including a scene of 'a man tied to the triangles, and with the marks of whipping scored on his bare shoulders'.
-
Some uncertainty rests on the authorship of this adaptation, which was trialled in Echuca in 1894 before an 1895 season in Brisbane.
-
This adaptation of Clarke's novel was produced for the Royal in Leicester (UK), where it premiered on 7 August 1896.
-
This adaptation, the last before the turn of the century, included a scene of a 'man-eating convict chasing a comic parson with an axe'.
-
4163808670509500787.jpgFor the Term of his Natural Life Charles MacMahon , 1908 single work film/TV
One of the earliest films made in Australia was this adaptation of Clarke's novel.
-
This film version is, technically, not an adaptation of the novel at all, but an adaptation of Thomas Walker's 1886 stage adaptation of the novel.
-
dawnnaturallifecast_CqIb.jpgFor the Term of His Natural Life Norman Dawn , 1927 single work film/TV
Norman Dawn's adaptation (featuring Eva Novak) was a blockbuster film production.
-
This BBC radio play was said to be 'freely adapted' from Marcus Clarke's novel.
-
Ida Veitch adapted Marcus Clarke's novel for child-readers in 1977.
-
naturallifecast_C[hash]j}C.jpgFor the Term of his Natural Life Patricia Payne , Wilton Schiller , 1983 series - publisher film/TV
In 1983, Marcus Clarke's novel was adapted into that most 1980s of television forms: the mini-series.
-
Marcus Clarke's Immortal Australian Classic : For the Term of His Natural Life Peter Foster , 1986 single work graphic novel
In 1986, Peter Foster adapted His Natural Life as a graphic novel—the first time, Elizabeth Webby says, that an Australian novel had been adapted in this way. The adaptation was expanded and re-released in full colour in 2012.
-
1998 saw another stage adaptation—this one a brief two acts.
-
The BBC followed up their earlier 'free adaptation' with this later, three-part version of the novel.
-
His Natural Life has even been adapted into a musical, in 2004.
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
Fergus Hume's murder mystery has spawned no fewer than nine adaptations so far.
-
6906105995113215851.jpg6283953054841021298.jpg4202522335621092054.png8625348650288368455.jpg7865781170005778839.jpg2164815821961769900.jpg6297086948178282154.jpg1577388689749124005.jpgThe Mystery of a Hansom Cab Fergus Hume , 1886 single work novel
Fergus Hume's novel was originally published in 1886.
-
The first adaptation pre-dated the rise of film and radio, with Hume co-authoring a stage version of the novel in 1888.
-
George Darrell's stage version of the novel appeared in the same year as Hume's own adaptation.
-
It didn't take long for Australian film-makers to warm to the idea of adapting Hume's novel; this version was released in 1911.
-
The British film industry followed suit, setting the task of adapting the novel to the prolific Eliot Stannard.
-
In 1925, Tasmanian actor Arthur Shirley produced a blockbuster silent-film version of the novel.
-
The first of two BBC radio adaptations.
-
The second of two BBC radio adaptations.
-
In 1961, Fergus Hume's crime novel became musical theatre.
-
mysteryofahansomcabimage_C[hash]nVt.jpgThe Mystery of a Hansom Cab Glen Dolman , 2012 single work film/TV
Finally, in 2012, Burberry Entertainment released a sumptuous modern television version.
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
Robbery Under Arms
Rolfe Boldrewood's rollicking bushranger tale is a perennial favourite on stage, radio, and screen.
-
Robbery Under Arms : A Story of Life and Adventure in the Bush and in the Goldfields of Australia Rolf Boldrewood , 1882 single work novel
Rolfe Boldrewood's novel first appeared in 1882.
-
As with The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, the earliest adaptation of Robbery Under Arms pre-dated film and radio, and was produced for the stage.
-
This was a burlesque version of both the novel and, more specifically, Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch's stage version.
-
But almost as soon as they could, Australian film-makers began adapting this novel for the screen; this, the first film adaptation, came out in 1907.
-
6848845988621130494.jpgCaptain Starlight : or, Gentleman of the Road Alfred Rolfe , 1911 single work film/TV
This film was adapted not directly from the novel, but from Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch's stage play.
-
Over a decade after the first film version, Kenneth Brampton felt the novel deserved a more modern film treatment.
-
This BBC radio production ran to ten episodes, nearly a decade before Rex Rienits did his own radio version.
-
The BBC cast this radio adaptation with expatriate Australian actors.
-
6258941096600126078.jpgRobbery Under Arms Alexander Baron , W. P. Lipscomb , Richard Mason , 1957 single work film/TV
A big-budget film version, with big-name film star Peter Finch in the role of Captain Starlight.
-
This musical version of Robbery Under Arms was first performed in Brisbane somewhere around 1964.
-
robberyunderarmscast_Cq(Y.jpgRobbery Under Arms Tony Morphett , Graeme Koetsveld , Michael Jenkins , 1985 single work film/TV
Finally, Robbery Under Arms received that most 1980s of treatments; it was made into a mini-series. But it wasn't quite as simple as that: this adaptation was released twice: first as a two-and-a-half-hour film (due to be released in late 1984) and then as a six-hour mini-series (due to be released in 1985, with an emphasis on overseas sales). This record refers to the film release.
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
I Killed the Count
Alec Coppel's original play, I Killed the Count: A Play in Three Acts premiered at at the Whitehall Theatre, London, on 10 December 1937. So popular was the play, it was one of the plays that prisoners of war in Changi put on at their Palladium Theatre (and the theatre programme for the Changi performance can be seen here).
Below, in chronological order, are the eight adaptations that the original play spawned.
-
8022926895854216971.jpgI Killed the Count : A Play In Three Acts Alec Coppel , 1938 single work drama
Alec Coppel's play was originally staged in 1938.
-
Lawrence Huntington's film version was the earliest adaptation, coming out two years after the play premiered.
-
In the same year in which the film was released, Alec Coppel released his novelisation of his play (a pattern that was to prove popular with him).
-
This Australian adaptation was written by prolific radio script-writer Max Afford.
-
The BBC weighed into the popularity of I Killed the Count in 1945, with this radio adaptation.
-
Then, in 1948, the BBC produced a television adaptation, this time adapted by Coppel himself.
-
For good measure, Coppel also adapted the play for ITV eight years later.
-
In perhaps the ultimate mark of popularity, I Killed the Count was adapted, in three parts, for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
-
Finally, I Killed the Count was adapted for Belgian television, some twenty-two years after it was originally produced on stage.
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
On Our Selection
Steele Rudd's short stories about a family struggling with the subsistence-level farming on their selection have proven popular on stage, radio, and screen since their initial appearance in 1899. Among the adaptations below is a radio series—in which the setting was updated to the 1930s—that ran for over 2000 episodes.
-
Steele Rudd's short stories appeared at the very end of the nineteenth century.
-
This 1912 drama was adapted by Bert Bailey and Albert Edmunds. It was also the source of the 1932 film On Our Selection, the first of four films Ken G. Hall made using the Steele Rudd characters.
-
Not strictly an adaptation, The Tragedy on Our Selection was influenced by Steele Rudd's stories or, perhaps, by Albert Edmunds's play. Little is known about it; it is sometimes called a spoof, but contemporary advertisements emphasise its blend of humour and pathos.
-
In 1920, Lottie Lyell and Raymond Longford adapted Steele Rudd's stories to film: they'd already had notable success the year before, with their adaptation of C.J. Dennis's The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke.
-
A year later, Longford and Lyell produced a second film based on Rudd's stories.
-
In 1932, Ken G. Hall released what would be the first in a series of four 'Dad and Dave' films for Cinesound Productions.
-
Cinesound's second 'Dad and Dave' film was Grandad Rudd, released in 1935.
-
On 31 May 1937, Radio 2GB broadcast the first of what would be a staggering 2,276 episodes of the radio serial inspired by Rudd's stories.
-
After the 'Dad and Dave' radio series began in 1937, Cinesound released the fish-out-of-water comedy Dad and Dave Come to Town in 1938.
-
Finally, Cinesound released Dad Rudd, MP, a mixture of Keystone Kops-style comedy and sober reflection on the coming war.
-
snakegullyhomestead_C[hash]k[L.jpgSnake Gully with Dad and Dave Ralph Peterson , Ken Shadie , 1972 series - publisher film/TV
Inspired as much by the radio series as the short stories, Snake Gully with Dad and Dave updated the stories of selection life to the 1970s–and was, unfortunately, equally unpopular with both viewers and critics.
-
This 1995 version starred the ebullient Leo McKern as Dad Rudd.
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
Seven Little Australians
Seven Little Australians has not been adapted as frequently as some of these other works, but has inspired more than one large-scale production.
-
Ethel Turner's most popular book, Seven Little Australians was published in 1894.
-
Beaumont Smith's stage version also incorporated some incidents from another Ethel Turner work, Miss Bobbie.
-
This adaptation showed Captain Woolcot as a harsher figure than most interpretations of the book suggest.
-
The British Broadcasting Corporation made this five-episode adaptation in 1953.
-
sevenlittleaustralians_C{[semi]R.jpgSeven Little Australians Eleanor Witcombe , 1973 series - publisher film/TV
Twenty years later, the Australian Broadcasting Commission followed with their own large-scale adaptation of the novel.
-
Seven Little Australians Peter Yeldham , John Palmer , Jim Graham , 1988 single work musical theatre
This musical adaptation of Seven Little Australians was one means of marking the 1988 bicentennial of the arrivals of white settlers in Australia.
-
This stage version was produced in 2005, over ninety years after Beaumont Smith's original adaptation.
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
Seagulls Over Sorrento
Sometimes described as one of the British stage's most successful post-war comedies, Seagulls Over Sorrento was adapted at least five times, including a West German telemovie, and a Finnish adaptation (in Swedish).
-
Hugh Hastings's original play was first produced by the Repertory Players in London in 1949.
-
This Boulting Brothers adaptation was released in 1954, and starred Gene Kelly.
-
This 1956 adaptation aired as part of anthology television series ITV Play of the Week (and was broadcast only five episodes before an adaptation of Alec Coppel's I Killed the Count).
-
This West German television version of Hugh Hastings's play aired in the same year as the ITV adaptation.
-
This Crawford Productions adaptation was said to have been the first full-length television play produced in Australia by an independent television production company.
-
This adaptation of Hugh Hastings's play was made (in Swedish) by a Finnish television broadcaster.
-
-
(Display Format : Landscape)(Scheme : #bee9d7)
Twins, Triplets, Quadruplets
In this tile, find a selection of works that have been adapted twice, three, and sometimes four times.
A number of international works have also been adapted multiple times in Australia and by Australians–the nineteenth-century novel The Silence of Dean Maitland, for example, has been adapted at least three times in Australia. However, this particular tile is limited to adaptations of Australian-written works.
The works are arranged in chronological order from the date of the original work's publication.
-
Helen Simpson's novel was first published in 1937.
-
7695420980847711439.jpgUnder Capricorn Hume Cronyn , 'James Bridie' , Margaret Linden , John Colton , 1949 single work film/TV
In 1949, Alfred Hitchcock adapted Simpson's novel with Ingrid Bergman; filming took place in England and the US.
-
In 1984, Tony Morphett adapted the novel again, this time as a mini-series.
-
Jon Cleary's novel was originally published in 1947.
-
The novel was first adapted as a rather controversial television series, in 1967.
-
Two years later, it was adapted again as a telemovie, using many of the same actors as the television series.
-
Alec Coppel's two-act play was originally staged in 1958.
-
A year after its original staging, The Gazebo was adapted by MGM: this version starred Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds.
-
This adaptation of The Gazebo was made for West German television.
-
Then French television followed suit, with this 1971 adaptation.
-
A second French adaptation was made in 1995.
-
Pat Flower's television play The Tape Recorder was first produced for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1966.
-
In 1967, the British Broadcasting Corporation produced a version of the play as part of their Thirty-Minute Theatre.
-
This version of Flower's play was broadcast in the United States in 1970.
-
Then in 1975, The Tape Recorder was adapted in Italy as Il Registratore.
-
7331810683589038226.jpg4502043439927532996.jpg5128695671611634122.jpg6620398889922030557.jpg3824534049500743053.jpg8808701686216718926.jpg601318062791271480.jpg1668477743514275269.jpg5322526025330797285.jpg6578654237888864096.jpg4621978355401152893.jpgCloudstreet Tim Winton , 1991 single work novel
Tim Winton's novel was originally published in 1991.
-
In 1996, the novel was adapted as a radio play.
-
In 1998, Cloudstreet was adapted again, this time as a stage play.
-
In 2011, it was adapted a third time, as a film.
-
And in 2016, it was adapted as an opera.
-
225115552269811111.jpg6587685218897997446.jpg4173718994030024521.jpg7628334135084447098.jpg6654466297410939762.jpg839881719312859956.jpg6790177349207503455.jpg939162831828705494.jpg6946511526653998237.jpgThe Secret River Kate Grenville , 2005 single work novel
Kate Grenville's novel was only published in 2005, and has already attracted two major adaptations.
-
1699041327205098328.jpg8629730231372528501.jpgThe Secret River Andrew Bovell , 2013 single work drama
Andrew Bovell's stage adaptation of the novel attracted a swag of award nominations–and won three major awards.
-
In mid-2014, pre-production began on a major television adaptation of the novel, scripted by Jan Sardi and Mac Gudgeon.
-
-
You might be interested in...
- Australians and Adaptations
- Adaptations on Australian Screens: A Brief Introduction
- Adaptations on the Australian Screen in the Silent Era, 1900-1929
- Australian Writers Adapted Internationally
- Adaptations on Television
- Data Visualisation: Adaptations from 2010-2019
- The Frequently Adapted
- Acknowledgements
- Australians and Adaptations
- Adaptations on Australian Screens: A Brief Introduction
- Adaptations on the Australian Screen in the Silent Era, 1900-1929
- Australian Writers Adapted Internationally
- Adaptations on Television
- Data Visualisation: Adaptations from 2010-2019
- The Frequently Adapted
- Acknowledgements