One of the pleasures of creative writing is when the writer changes a story from one format to another. For example changing a short story into a poem is fun but when you can change either into a stage play that is even better. So, how is it done? First you must decide on a story. This can be your own or you can adapt a story from some other source. Either method is fine as long as you remember that the story needs to be driven by the dialogue with a little help from the scene and the props. I shall explain using excerpts from my version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I changed the title to Some Day My Prints Will Come - taken from the song used in the movie. The story has taken on a new twist but is essentially the same as the original popular version. We have a wicked queen, Snow White, seven dwarfs and a prince plus a mirror that speaks to the queen. These essentials make up the story we all know except that I have changed the story a little. For a full version of Snow White according to James Apps visit the website shown at the end of the article. First task with conversion of a story to a play is to decide what is wanted and what is not. For example all the description needs to be put aside and notes made of essential items, such as a building or setting that needs to be used and of course the characters. In this case the characters are the same as in the story. The stage setting is described and the same setting is used throughout with the difference between the Queen's home and the dwarves done by lighting - this is a minimalist stage set designed to be rolled on and removed quickly. The next task is to take the existing dialogue and use that as a skeleton story and lay it out as a complete tale. The lines can be set out in a number of ways but I prefer to use the Name: Dialogue system with punctuation for breaks but no quotation marks. Stage directions are set out within brackets in Italics. To show how this works we will look at an extract from the story and match it with the play. This short piece is taken from the opening paragraph: "Mirror, mirror on the wall Who is the fairest of them all?" Asked the Queen. There was no answer. She didn't expect one but there was no harm in trying. Somebody told her that Snow White, her rival, was house keeping in the forest. "Bloody dwarfs, sorry, Vertically Challenged Persons," she said, feeling guilty but politically correct. "Little buggers are always interfering." She hoped her reflection wasn't true. "I can't be as ugly as that can I?" she said. But she was. As you can see the ideas and description are all there in prose and conveys the message to the reader that the queen has a magic mirror and is not as beautiful as she thinks she is. The tone of the story is set and we should expect an alternative version. Now let us see the opening of the play: QUEEN: Mirror, mirror on the wall; who is the fairest of them all? (There is no answer) Nothing. Maybe I should try again (louder) Mirror, mirror on the wall; who is the fairest of them all? (Still no answer) (louder still) Mirror, mirror on the wall ... Enter Prince. PRINCE: Knock it off darlin' you know as well as I do that as long as Snow White is around you don't stand a bleedin' chance. (makes rude gesture - arm up with stiff fist against hand) QUEEN: Excuse me will you? I'm trying to get something important going here, you know?... mirror, mirror on the wall; who is the fairest of them all? PRINCE: I told you (Aside) silly old bat. (back to Queen) You don't hold a candle to Snow White. QUEEN: Hah! Snow White, that brainless little bimbo. When I get hold of her I'll show her a thing or two about good looks, I'll show her (extends long nails like claws and snarls) she won't have any looks at all when I've finished with her. (Cuts down with vicious chopping motion of her hand) Hah! This does the same thing; identifies the magic mirror - which doesn't work - and with the additional character gives the audience the same idea that the queen is ugly. A play has a number of levels which should reach an audience and as you can imagine the difficulty is reaching them all. If your story is a good one and you can tell it in dialogue then you are part way there; the impact on the stage will be how the actors interpret the characters and how the director views the story. In Some Day My Prints Will Come I tried to create the levels on stage. 1) Visual impact 2) Verbal communication 3) Audience Interpretation 4) Sub plot 5) Sub text Level 1 is achieved by creating the stage scene - this applies to all plays - which the audience must recognise. To do this you as a writer must use the narrative of the story to set the scene as true to the story as possible. In this play the minimalism requires that the mirror and the dwarves wardrobe be on stage as a reminder to the audience. The author can write this in to the stage directions at the beginning. Level 2 could be considered the most important in which the audience is hearing a play - from Hamlet we are reminded by Hamlet that we are hearing a play from the wandering players and also from Midsummer Night's Dream - the Duke insists that he will hear the Mechanicals' play. The audience must get the story through the dialogue. In the case of Some Day My Prints Will Come the audience will hear the story but as it was a revue play with limited time the stage directions will allow the director to set his or her scene. In a longer play the author must make sure that the dialogue is written carefully and not only tells the story but moves the plot along. Level 3 is what the audience sees as images coupled with the stage visual aids. Here the story you are adapting can help greatly. All those bits of description you had to discard can be added in, albeit pruned down, to the dialogue. Level 4 is the tricky bit. This is where you as a writer create a sub plot that gives your audience a distraction. I have made at least two - the first is with the Queen and the Prince and the second is Dummy's sly machinations to get Snow White to himself. There are others but you will have to read the play to find them. An author needs to look into the story being adapted to find sub plots. If these cannot be found then maybe they should be created. Level 5 is where you as the author make allusions to concepts outside the story. This is where the audience gets its real lasting pleasure from and the author the great satisfaction of discovering his or her own depth. Okay, so what do you need to do to get it working properly? You add to the existing dialogue by turning the narrative in dialogue. You give a character the words that set the narrative scene without the descriptive prose that fluffs out the story and make it short and to the point. The example below will help. This is the scene where the queen disguised as an apple seller poisons Snow White. Note the narrative form in this which tells you what is happening and hopefully shows the reader the action. The trouble with apples, thought Snow White, is that on the outside they look pretty good. Inside, sometimes they can be a bit floury, sharp, or, if she was lucky they tasted sweet and juicy. As soon as Snow White bit into it she knew she had done the wrong thing. How many times had the little perverts warned her? Stuffy old Prof always said. "Listen you dumb bimbo don't buy nuthin" off nobody not nohow, see?" She knew he was right but the apple looked delicious. "Try it my dear." Anything for free. Wrong. The damn thing was spiked. "Oh shit," she mumbled, and fell to the ground. Now, convert that to a part in the play and you get: OLD MEG: Hello dearie. SNOW WHITE: Oh, I was expecting the Prince. OLD MEG: Sorry dearie, as you can see I'm no Prince, just a humble fruit seller. Like to try an apple dearie? SNOW WHITE: How much? OLD MEG: No charge to try my dear. (Holds out an apple with a label on it) SNOW WHITE: Ooh (Takes apple and admires it) (Aside) What was it stuffy old PROF said to me? PROF: (Voice off stage) I said, listen you dumb bimbo don't buy nuthin' off nobody, see? (Both look up and around trying to locate voice ) OLD MEG: No harm in trying and this one is free to you dearie. SNOW WHITE: (Reads label - slowly and carefully) For Snow White only (Aside) ooh how nice (reads label again) Danger! Poison do not eat. OLD MEG: Go on give it a try dearie. It's a special apple just for you. (Snow White bites into the apple and chomps, eating some ) SNOW WHITE: (reels and falls) Oh shit, it's spiked. (Dies) The same story is told but note how the stage directions and the dialogue work together to create the scene leaving the actors enough room to interpret the action their way. On stage the actors were directed to pause and take their time to complete the scene. The fun part is actually putting it on stage. I have put the script on this site (that is for article readers the squarespace site) and ask if you are tempted to perform it that you acknowledge my authorship and let me know through the site where and when it was produced. The reason I offer this is simple; the original story is not my copyright and my adaptation is transparently from the popular movie for which I have fond memories. I use it only as a guide to conversion of text from one medium to another. So good luck in your enterprise and enjoy.
About the Author
James Apps is a poet and writer, chairman of a writer's group who studied English Literature at Auckland University in New Zealand as a mature student. He performs poetry and short stories in the Swale Area of Kent and encourages young people to publish their poetry on the group website. He is currently establishing a web based publishing site designed to combine teaching, forums and discussion with sales of local works. The site address is ht
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