Section Guest Editor: Patrice Pavis (France)*
Adaptation is everywhere. The word achieves its meaning: to transform one thing into another.
Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques asked a small number of experts on the concept of theatrical adaptation to be a little bit more specific on the basis of their own understanding of the phenomenon—by giving some unique examples of adaptation the way it is observed nowadays. Renouncing—for the moment?—a very problematic general theory of adaptation, we hope, more modestly, to support our thesis with concrete examples and multiple contexts, i.e. genres (theatre, literature, painting).
One thing is certain: each one of my invited writers is an authority in her domain; she adapts to the complexity of the theatrical experiences as much as theatre itself adapts under her gaze.
*Patrice Pavis is professor at the School of Arts, University of Kent. Latest book: Dictionnaire de la performance et du théâtre contemporain (Armand Colin, 2014). English translation forthcoming by Routledge, 2016.
