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  • 1.  Lord of the Flies

    Posted 14 days ago

    I'm looking for a good adaptation of Lord of the Flies. And I want to do it with a gender-inclusive cast without breaking the rights agreement.

    I figured there would be dozens of different versions out there, but the only one I have found is the Nigel Williams adaptation (which I intend to read). Looks like the same was true in 2015 when someone else posted the same question, but that was almost ten years ago so I'm re-upping the query.

    Anyone know/love a different one, or has anyone created one (legally) that they love and would be willing to share?



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    Josh Kauffman
    Teacher, Thespian Society/Drama Club sponsor
    Winfield City Schools
    Winfield, AL
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  • 2.  RE: Lord of the Flies

    Posted 13 days ago
    I just saw an article about a modern, gender-neutral production in the UK. Check out places like Nick Hern's books for the script. 




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  • 3.  RE: Lord of the Flies

    Posted 13 days ago

    Actually, with well-known intellectual property that is still under copyright, such as Lord of the Flies, you're not very likely to find multiple adaptations.  Novelists (and their estates, if they've passed on) usually don't want to get tangled up in that.  We now have two stage adaptations of To Kill a Mockingbird, for example, and there has already been a lawsuit about how the performance rights to each do - or don't - affect the performance rights to the other.  In this case, the Nigel Williams version is probably the only one available.  But you could certainly inquire about whether your production concept would be permitted with it.



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    Jeff Grove
    Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
    Stanton College Prep
    FL
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Lord of the Flies

    Posted 13 days ago

    I'm sorry no one was definitive in answering the 2015 post. However...

    The Golding estate is definitive that the Nigel Williams adaptation is the only legal one out there:
    https://william-golding.co.uk/contact-and-permissions

    Here's an interesting article about the Lord of the Flies copyright situation (and why it won't be in the public domain for several more decades):
    https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2011/pre-1976/

    On a personal note, back when I was teaching at The Haverford School (a boys school) in the mid-late 1990s, I wanted to do my own adaptation and spent months trying to figure who had the stage rights, a journey that took me to Castle Rock, the company that did the 1990 film, and eventually to Faber & Faber, Golding's publisher, at which point I discovered that the Nigel Williams version was in development. As soon as it came through, I staged the North American premiere at Haverford. (In fact, when the Shaw Festival tried to bill their production as the North American premiere, I wrote them and they had to apologize--theirs was just the Canadian premiere.)

    The bottom line is that if you want to do the play before 2050 or so, this is the version you'll need to use. However, there certainly is anecdotal evidence that you may be able to stage it with gender-blind casting, but you'd need to confirm.

    Cheers,
    Jonathan



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    Playwright/Managing Partner of YouthPLAYS
    Los Angeles, CA
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Lord of the Flies

    Posted 13 days ago

    That is definitive indeed. Thanks for the complete answer and also the anecdote (how cool). I will just have to hope that I love the Williams adaptation once my copy arrives in the mail.



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    Josh Kauffman
    Teacher, Thespian Society/Drama Club sponsor
    Winfield City Schools
    Winfield, AL
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Lord of the Flies

    Posted 12 days ago

    A great discussion here, and it seems like the questions have mostly been answered. One thing I wanted to add is that if you end up going ahead with a gender-inclusive cast, make sure you get permission from the publisher/the Golding estate. Oftentimes, playwrights are fine with swapping the gender of certain characters in a play if the gender is not particularly important to the storytelling. However, I remember reading that Golding said that he wrote the novel to be all boys for very specific reasons. I don't know if that will carry on to the play adaptation, but it would definitely be something to check on.



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    Christopher Hamilton
    Drama Teacher
    Kamiakin High School
    WA
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    Original Message