Original version

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

In the Studio

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Inside the brains of the world’s most creative people

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

No Master Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC Afghan Radio

In the Studio: Damon Galgut: Adapting The Promise for the stage

Magazines & Reviews

Damon Galgut: Adapting The Promise for the Stage

21/11/2023 GMT

Damon Galgut: Adapting The Promise for the stage

BBC World Service - In the Studio, Damon Galgut: Adapting The Promise for the stage

A Booker Prize-winning novel moves from the page to the stage

Damon Galgut’s Booker Prize-winning novel, The Promise, moves from the page to the stage.

Damon Galgut’s 2021 Booker Prize-winning novel, The Promise, chronicles the slow decline of a white family on a farm outside Pretoria, South Africa, and the ripple effects of a deathbed promise – made but not kept – to give the family’s Black housekeeper ownership of the small house in which she lives.
Now, the stage adaptation of The Promise, written by Galgut and director Sylvaine Strike, is being readied to premiere at the Star Theatre, at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town.

But how does a text so praised for its formal inventiveness – the narrative voice shifting from third to first person, and inhabiting multiple interior lives, sometimes within a single paragraph – get translated for the theatre and brought to life?

Writer Bongani Kona goes behind the curtain to watch the rehearsal process unfold. We trace Galgut’s journey from the play’s conception, and follow the director and cast as they workshop scenes, experiment with sound and action, and navigate the unusual set design – all in the build-up to opening night.
The Promise on stage is directed by Sylvaine Strike with stage adaptation by Damon Galgut and Sylvaine Strike. Original music composition by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder.

Presenter: Bongani Kona
Produced by Catherine Boulle and Bongani Kona
A Falling Tree production for the BBC World Service

Image: Damon Galgut (Credit: Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images) in front of a scene from the stage adaptation of The Promise (Credit: Claude Barnardo)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

In the Studio

Damon Galgut: Adapting The Promise for the stage

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

About BBC World Service