Turning a 250-page novel or a two-and-a-half-hour stage play into a 90-minute film means leaving out much of the original and changing most of what’s left. So why does it remain recognisably the same story? What is the slippery essence that transfers, unaltered, from page to screen?

In Adaptations, Denise Faithfull comprehensively and systematically addresses the thorny issues of choosing your source and type of adaptation, whether a liberal appropriation, a free-flowing intersection, a variation or a faithful translation. She illuminates questions of structure, character, dialogue and visualisation, and includes a checklist for the adaptor. Brian Hannant’s introductory chapter discusses the history of Australian film, the basic principles of filmmaking and screenwriting, and a guide to correct screenplay layout.

Drawing from dozens of Australian films including Così, Lantana, Hotel Sorrento, The Boys, Dead Heart, Death in Brunswick and Head On, Adaptations navigates the treacherous waters of the adaptation process, showing us what works … and what doesn’t.

For anyone who’s ever read a novel, seen a play or heard an incredible true story and thought, ‘Now, that would make a great film’, Adaptations is the ultimate on how to make it happen.

This is the definitive guide to making a career out of making people laugh. If you’ve got a sense of humour, you can learn to make a career out of comedy, says Judy Carter. Whether it’s creating a killer stand-up act, writing a spec sitcom, or providing jokes for radio or one-liners for greeting cards, Carter provides step-by-step instructions in The Comedy Bible. She helps readers first determine which genre of comedy writing or performing suits them best and then directs them in developing, refining, and selling their work.

‘Judy Carter can show you how to make your sense of humour pay off’. - Oprah

‘ The Comedy Bible is proof God does have a sense of humour... Until comedians can enrol in a comedy 101 humourversity course at the school of hard knock-knocks, this is the next best thing.’ Wil Anderson

An extraordinary account of a series of meetings between the drama critic of the New York Times and the notoriously reticent playwright, author of Waiting for Godot.

These revelatory encounters took place over the last ten years of Samuel Beckett's life, and are interspersed in this volume with interviews with his chief collaborators and interpreters including Billie Whitelaw, Mike Nichols and Deborah Warner.

'Invaluable new knowledge brought to light' Scotsman

Forty years of candid conversations between the world-famous playwright and the drama critic of the New York Times.

This book records over a dozen conversations that both charts Miller's development and delves into his earlier life and work.

From the personal to the political Miller is astonishingly candid throughout - even about his relationship with Marilyn Monroe. The result is a self-portrait of a giant of the theatre who is both a 'regular guy' and a fiercely original writer and thinker...

'Full of illuminating candour' Sunday Times

Detailed interviews with the Nobel Prize-winning playwright, conducted over twenty years from 1971–1993 by the Drama Critic of the New York Times.

An invaluable insight to Pinter's life and work. 

'A vital companion to his work' The Times

'We're unlikely to get a better insight' Sheridan Morley

Plays written by the major European dramatists of the last two centuries —from the firmly established classics of Ibsen and Chekhov to the recent success of Yasmina Reza—are increasingly performed on British stages, often in new translations or versions. But what distinguishes one translation from another? And what social and cultural factors of reception must the translator of a foreign play take into account?

Gunilla Anderman looks at varying approaches to the foreign text as well as the need for new versions of the same play, and discusses the influence of Europen drama in translation and its contribution to and enrichment of English playwright.

Peter Newmark, author of Translation Now in The Linguist

Volume II of The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams includes nearly 350 letters written between 1945 and 1957 to 90 correspondents, including Elia Kazan, Carson McCullers, Gore Vidal, publisher James McLaughlin and Audrey Wood, Williams’ resourceful agent. This was a time of intense creativity for the author which encompassed the production of six major plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Alongside Broadway and Hollywood successes, he suffered from a string of personal losses and a deepening depression, making this period an emotional and artistic roller coaster for Williams.