An Intercultural Adaptation of The Sound of Music on a Nigerian Stage

Abstract

The objective of this paper is aimed at appraising the value of intercultural theatre and at the same time striving to understand the implications of adapting a classical film to a live theatre performance. It is not an overstatement to say that a film like The Sound of Music with its rich techniques, plot, scenery and directorial approach will not only create audience appeal, but that its immediacy of themes, popularity and box-office success can attract any adaptor. The study which uses literary and artistic methodology observes that the prospect of adapting film to live theatre performance goes beyond interpreting the film as it were, because a lot of artistic manipulations and exploration of new techniques to serve as fecundity for live stage directing will be required. Therefore, through a stylized approach aimed at creating originality, theatricality and style with respect of verisimilitude, the adaptor director created on stage sheer theatrical brilliance, beauty, excitement and theatrical imagination. The performance suggests that the process of transcreation without tempering with the spine or thematic preoccupation of the film is simply of style of crossing borders of culture, language, continents and genre. The live theatre director makes a theatrical entity of the entire production with an intuitive perspective to foster global cultural exchange and interaction. The paper concludes that; using intercultural theatre approach which allows for mixing cultures and subculture in theatrical performance can be in more ways than one promote cultural tolerance and peace.