Fiona Soltes, writing for The Tennessean, published a preview of Wes Driver’s stage adaptation of Roger’s Version, which had its world premiere on May 30, 2014 and continues its initial run at Nashville’s Blackbird Theater through June 8.
Soltes notes that Driver received special permission from the Updike estate to adapt and stage the play, and quotes Clifford Anderson, director for scholarly communications in the Jean and Alexander Heard Library at nearby Vanderbilt University, as saying that Roger’s Version is “perhaps more relevant today” than it was when Updike published it in 1986.
“One thing that’s obviously different now is that, when Dale was trying to do this, we would have said it was an impossible task. . . . But I think what Updike had in mind, he was almost prescient in thinking that this would be something that scientists would be trying to do. That article [in Nature on ‘re-creating the history of the universe since the Big Bang through computer simulation’] has nothing to do with theology, but there is a very strong—much stronger than in the 1980s—theology and science discussion. In a way, this book was ahead of its time in projecting the themes that would become prevalent in that discussion.”
Anderson, Soltes writes, “has been impressed with the way Driver has cut to the ‘pithy aspects’ of the story while maintaining its drama. ‘It’s going to be quite innovative, and even sharpens the points of the book,’ he says.”
“‘Updike’s works are not known for making easy transitions to other media,’ Driver says. ‘But so much of this book already played out like great drama. . . . To me it cried out to be staged. To be incarnated. What a privilege that the Updike estate has let me do just that.'”
Pictured are actors Kris Wente (Dale) and David Compton (Roger) in a promo shot taken by Driver.