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Far from the Madding Crowd
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==Adaptations== ===Radio=== The novel was adapted by Graham White in 2012 into a three-part series on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''Classic Serial''. The production was directed by [[Jessica Dromgoole]] and featured Alex Tregear as Bathsheba, [[Shaun Dooley]] as Gabriel, [[Toby Jones]] as Boldwood and [[Patrick Kennedy (actor)|Patrick Kennedy]] as Troy. ===Comics=== The novel was adapted by [[Posy Simmonds]] into ''[[Tamara Drewe]]'', weekly comic strip that ran from September 2005 to October 2006 in ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s Review section. The strip, a modern reworking of the novel, was itself adapted into a film, [[Tamara Drewe (film)|''Tamara Drewe'']] (2010), directed by [[Stephen Frears]]. ===Film=== *[[Far from the Madding Crowd (1915 film)|''Far from the Madding Crowd'']] (1915) directed by [[Laurence Trimble]], starring [[Florence Turner]] and [[Henry Edwards (actor)|Henry Edwards]]. This is a [[lost film]]. *[[Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)|''Far from the Madding Crowd'']] (1967) directed by [[John Schlesinger]], starring [[Julie Christie]] as Bathsheba Everdene, [[Terence Stamp]] as Sergeant Troy, [[Peter Finch]] as Mr Boldwood, and [[Alan Bates]] as Farmer Oak. *[[Far from the Madding Crowd (1998 film)|''Far from the Madding Crowd'']] (1998) ITV UK television adaption directed by [[Nicholas Renton]], starring [[Paloma Baeza]], [[Nathaniel Parker]], [[Jonathan Firth]] and [[Nigel Terry]]. *''[[Tamara Drewe (film)|Tamara Drewe]]'' (2010), a British romantic comedy film directed by Stephen Frears and based on [[Tamara Drewe|the newspaper comic strip of the same name]], which was a modern reworking of ''Far from the Madding Crowd'', starring [[Gemma Arterton]] and [[Luke Evans]] as analogues of Bathsheba and Gabriel. *[[Far from the Madding Crowd (2015 film)|''Far from the Madding Crowd'']] (2015) directed by [[Thomas Vinterberg]], screenplay by [[David Nicholls (writer)|David Nicholls]], with [[Carey Mulligan]] as Bathsheba Everdene, [[Matthias Schoenaerts]] as Farmer Oak, [[Michael Sheen]] as Mr Boldwood, [[Tom Sturridge]] as Sergeant Troy and [[Juno Temple]] as Fanny Robin.<ref>{{cite news|first= Stuart|last= Kemp|title= BBC Films has diverse slate|url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i7c5c16b2d6b9258ea88d121088522f85|work= [[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date= 18 May 2008|access-date= 18 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Fleming|first=Mike|title=Searchlight Rounds Out 'Madding' Cast With Michael Sheen, Juno Temple|url=https://deadline.com/2013/09/searchlight-rounds-out-madding-cast-with-michael-sheen-juno-temple-587993/|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|publisher=[[PMC (company)|PMC]]|access-date=23 December 2013|date=16 September 2013}}</ref> ===Stage productions=== In 1879, Hardy adapted the novel under the title "The Mistress of the Farm: A Pastoral Drama". When [[J. Comyns Carr]] suggested something similar, Hardy gave him his version, which he said Carr "modified… in places, to suit modern carpentry &c".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Hardy and The Stage|last=Wilson|first=Keith|publisher=The Macmillan Press|year=1995|pages=25}}</ref> Hardy's experience of adapting a novel for the theatre was soured by controversy – the managers of the St James's Theatre, London, John Hare and William Hunter Kendal, on reading the Comyns Carr/Hardy adaptation, first accepted it and then rejected it; instead staging Arthur Wing Pinero's play ''The Squire'', which appeared to be heavily plagiarised from the earlier script.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Hardy and the Stage|last=Wilson|first=Keith|publisher=The Macmillan Press Ltd|year=1995|pages=25}}</ref> This enraged Comyns Carr and, to a lesser extent, Hardy. Prompted by Comyns Carr, Hardy wrote indignant letters to ''The Times'' and the ''Daily News''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stottlar|first=James|date=1977|title=Hardy vs Pinero: Two Stage Versions of Far from the Madding Crowd|journal=Theatre Survey|volume=18|issue=2|pages=23–43|doi=10.1017/S0040557400009224}}</ref> Comyns Carr/Hardy's version was finally staged at the [[Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool|Royal Court Theatre]] in [[Liverpool]], where it opened on 27 February 1882 as ''Far from The Madding Crowd,'' with [[Marion Terry]] as Bathsheba and Charles Kelly as Oak.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=advertisement|journal=[[The Times]]|volume=3 March 1882|page=12}}</ref><ref>First night theatre programme: "Far from the Madding Crowd" Liverpool Court Theatre, 27 February 1882.</ref> The reviews were mixed, one critic calling their adaptation "a miniature melodrama… well placed in the provinces", while praising ''The Squire'''s appeal to "spectators of somewhat refined taste". The production subsequently transferred to the Globe Theatre in London, opening on 29 April 1882, presenting a similar cast, but with [[Mrs. Bernard Beere|Mrs Bernard Beere]] now playing Bathsheba.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=advertisement|journal=[[The Times]]|volume=28 April 1881|page=8}}</ref> Inspired by these performances, a further, clumsy cut-and-paste version, of the novel was performed in America shortly afterwards, at the Union Square Theatre, New York in April 1882. The play was panned: according to the theatre reviewer for the American journal ''Spirit of the Times'', it was unfair "to Thomas Hardy, to the public, and to Miss Morris, although she got even by spoiling the play after Mr Cazauran had spoiled the novel". This experience made Hardy wary of theatrical adaptations and the potential risk to his reputation both from authorised adaptations and from unauthorised ones.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Thomas Hardy on Stage|last=Wilson|first=Keith|publisher=The Macmillan Press Ltd|year=1995|pages=29}}</ref> In 1909, Harold Evans adapted the novel, with Hardy's input, for The Hardy Players, Hardy's own amateur theatrical society, formed in 1908 to perform a production of ''The Trumpet-Major''. As Harold Evans' daughter Evelyn wrote: "This pastoral romance presented more difficult problems of staging; sheep had to be sheared on stage in the great barn; the big shearing supper was essential; Boldwood’s Christmas party had to be staged, too, with its tragic climax, the shooting of Troy by the half-crazed Boldwood. Mr T. H. Tilley, a builder by trade, and a most gifted comedian, conquered all these staging difficulties. He constructed a model theatre (now in the possession of Mr Edward Grassby) with designs for each set, so that the Weatherbury (Puddletown) landscape could be faithfully portrayed. A painting of Waterston House formed one backcloth; meadows, fir plantations, house interiors, the others. Mr Tilley’s rich humour in the part of Joseph Poorgrass delighted Hardy and the audience. My father often chuckled over how Joseph, in his cups, declared, 'I feel too good for England. I ought to have lived in Genesis by right.'” In the 1909 production, one important scene had to be omitted. Much to Hardy's regret, the opening of Fanny Robin's coffin by Bathsheba and her reaction to it could not be staged. At that time, having a coffin on the stage was seen as too shocking. "Years later", wrote Evelyn Evans, "when Hardy attended a performance of Synge’s Riders to the Sea by the Arts League of Service, and watched drowned bodies carried on to the stage, he remarked wryly that his one coffin containing Fanny Robin and her child could hardly have shocked the same audience". There was also some unexpected comedy gold in the 1909 production. Evelyn Evans describes it thus: "To make this pastoral play true to life, my father engaged a professional sheep-shearer to shear sheep on stage during the important shearing scene. Everything was to be done as Hardy described it: 'The lopping off the tresses about the ewe’s head, opening up the neck and collar, the running of the shears line after line round her dewlap, thence about her flank and back, and finishing over her tail – the clean, sleek creature arising from its fleece: startled and shy at the loss of its garment, which lay on the floor in one soft cloud.' The shearer, complaining of thirst, was given unlimited free beer at his task, with the result that above the actors' voices could be heard a maudlin song, as the shearer sang to the sheep he was fondly kissing and clipping with expertise, becoming, unfortunately, drunker and drunker to father's great consternation".<ref>Evans, Evelyn L; My Father Produced Hardy's Plays. 1964 VG</ref> The novel was adapted as a ballet in 1996 by David Bintley for the [[Birmingham Royal Ballet]],{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} a musical in 2000 by [[Gary Schocker]], and an opera in 2006 by [[Andrew Downes (composer)|Andrew Downes]]. New stage adaptations were performed in autumn 2008 by the English Touring Theatre (ETT), directed by [[Kate Saxon]],<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0261-3077| last = Mahoney| first = Elisabeth| title = Far from the Madding Crowd| work = The Guardian|location=London| date = 2008-09-17| url = https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/sep/18/theatre4}}</ref> in March 2013 by Myriad Theatre & Film, and in 2019 by the [https://hardyonline.org/about-us/ New Hardy Players] (re-formed at the request of [[Norrie Woodhall]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/leisure/reviews/17736352.review-far-from-the-madding-crowd-is-beautifully-told-by-the-new-hardy-players/|title="REVIEW: Far From the Madding Crowd is 'beautifully told' by the New Hardy Players"|last=Davis|first=Joanna|date=28 June 2019|website=Dorset Echo}}</ref> In 2011 [[Roger Holman]] wrote a musical adaptation of "Far From the Madding Crowd".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.getreading.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/shinfield-players-far-madding-crowd-4195566|title = Shinfield Players' Far from the Madding Crowd|date = 2 October 2012}}</ref>
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