Coronation Street On Stage… It Might Be Alright!
Published on Friday 5th March, 3.07pm, Written by Carrie Dunn
We reported earlier today that Coronation Street is being brought to the stage in a ‘Live — Abridged!’ version.
Doubtless this will trigger much opprobrium, but in fact this screen-to-stage adaptation has a decent pedigree…
The writer Jonathan Harvey
Seventeen years ago he was hailed as the Evening Standard’s most promising playwright, and since then he’s had works staged at The Royal Court, The Donmar Warehouse and The Criterion Theatre, as well as fitting in writing scripts for Corrie in his spare time.
Abridgements
Anyone who’s seen the Reduced Shakespeare Company mock their titular writer, the entirety of literature, cinema and sports, the history of America, and God herself will know that when there’s high melodrama to be had, the only way round it is to crush it into a two-act theatrical performance and play it for laughs.
Television to theatre
Alright, this one’s pushing it a bit. The only TV adaptations I can think of off-hand are the Olivier Award-winning Acorn Antiques: The Musical (which played the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2005) and Bad Girls: The Musical (which played the Garrick in 2007). However, it is a fact that big screen-to-stage as a general concept works very well, as we are seeing right now with the triumphs of Legally Blonde the Musical and Sister Act the musical.
So what do you think, hit or flop? More to the point, will you be buying tickets for Coronation Street: Live – Abridged?
