Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

Our production of Lady Madeline opened this past weekend. Lady Madeline is being presented through our Steppenwolf for Young Adults program, performing on weekdays for Chicago-area school students, and for the general public on weekends. Lady Madeline, commissioned by Steppenwolf from Chicago writer Mickle Maher, is based upon the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe. The run of this show, overlapping with our Subscription Season run of after the quake, made me think about the nature of adaptation. With after the quake, we see an example of Frank Galati’s approach to the task, with nearly all of the text being taken directly (via translator Jay Rubin) from Haruki Murakami’s writing. Lady Madeline, on the other hand, uses Poe’s work as a jumping off point for an entirely different kind of exploration, with most of what appears on-stage issuing in Mickle’s voice. I imagine most of us have had the experience of reading a book and then seeing a movie or theatrical version of it (or vice-versa) and arguing afterwards with our friends about which we preferred. How much of the way in which we receive an adapted work is dependent upon our knowledge and appreciation of the source material? If you’ve read Poe and/or Murakami and seen Lady Madeline or after the quake, I wonder where did you stand on that question.