Mending Fences: The Broken Bond between Theatre and Film
Play to film adaptations have fallen in prestige and numbers in recent years, and one of the main reasons for this is the decline in popularity of plays that can be adapted. For example, A Streetcar Named Desire was the 5th highest grossing film of 1951[i] while Fences was the 91st highest grossing film of 2016[ii]. As film technology has improved in the intervening years, so has the public interest in stage works that are not comedies or musicals declined. From a culture of regular and successful stage to screen adaptations to one in which it is vanishingly rare, this article will reflect on how and why these changes have come about. One notable facet of this decline is the relative scarcity of actors moving from the stage to film. Whereas in previous decades actors struggling to find work in film could earn equal prestige on stage, it is now […]