Heyer in the spotlight - adapting her work for the stage

Welcome to Heyer Today, the podcast about all things relating to Regency romance queen, Georgette Heyer.

This week, Sara-Mae will be chatting with playwright Christina Calvit and director Dorothy Milne, who worked together on the acclaimed Heyer adaptations of The Talisman Ring, Pistols for Two, Cotillion and Sylvester at Chicago’s Lifeline Theatre.

The theatre has a distinguished record of literary adaptations, including some Austen novels, so when we heard about Dorothy and Christina’s version of Sylvester, we were absolutely gutted we wouldn’t be able to see it.

Christina is no stranger to reshaping a literary work, with over a dozen theatrical adaptations under her belt, including Wuthering Heights; A Room with a View; Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice as well as our four Heyers.

She worked with Dorothy Milne, a veteran at Lifeline, who’s directed over twenty productions. Not only was she an ensemble cast member, she also served as the theatre’s Artistic Director from 1999-2019. Both women have been showered in awards, so they were well equipped to tackle Heyer’s books. We chat about how Heyer’s dialogue lends itself to the visual medium, which other novels they’d love to adapt, our favourite Heyers, and why they think Heyer’s work has been misunderstood over the years.

Oh, and we’ll also be asking the delightful Kathy Skok, a fan from the Heyer Facebook group, for her review of The Talisman Ring play. She got to see a production based on Christina and Dorothy’s adaptation.

Picture courtesy of David and Melissa Beresford - Ludovic (played by Jeremy Bode) comforts Eustacie (played by Carinda Washburn)

Music

You can find Message to Bears here.

Tom Chadd’s music here.

and Emma Gatrill’s website is here.

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Useful links:

Lifeline Theatre

Lovestreet Theatre adaptation of The Talisman Ring, developed and produced by David and Melissa Beresford, based on Christina's script.