When a play is adapted for the screen, the story is afforded a range of shiny new tools through which to express itself. Cinematographic framing, the power of special effects, and the comfort of multiple takes can all see a play given the means to blossom into something entirely new.
12 Angry Men was the terse blueprint; the grand visual pomp of Amadeus took it to boisterous new heights; and even Tom Stoppard’s sorely underrated film revision of his own Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead has its uniquely cinematic moments.
However, when this process is reversed, and a film is brought to the stage – as is the case for the Royal Exchange’s Let The Right One In, playing until 19 November – these tools are suddenly removed, and the language used to tell a story is stripped down to bare essentials. For many translations, this reduction is a far trickier affair, but when handled sensitively, it can result in something equally distinctive.
