Tim's thoughts on the adaptation of Starseeker

"When Dani Parr first asked me for permission to stage Starseeker, I felt a mixture of delight and fear. Delight because I have always felt that Starseeker would lend itself beautifully to a stage production if sensitively handled, fear because the original novel has so many complexities that I was mindful of the difficulties for the playwright in adapting it. Somehow, the adaptor would have to express the balance between the physical reality of Luke’s life and the spiritual elements that underpin it. I had no idea how anyone would go about such a task and was privately concerned that the reductive process needed for adaptation to the stage might overemphasise one aspect of the novel at the expense of the other or – worse still – would simply rip the guts out of my book.
 
I needn’t have worried. The moment Dani told me that Phil Porter would be adapting the novel, I knew we were going to be all right. Phil’s reputation for consistent high-quality work goes before him and I couldn’t have had a better person handling Starseeker. Given his expertise and experience and knowing that Dani would be working closely with him through all stages of the process, I decided to stand back and give them space. The last thing an adaptor of Phil’s quality needs is an author breathing down his neck, and I think this approach worked best. We agreed that Phil would go ahead and produce a first draft, in consultation with Dani, and when they had something to show, they’d send it to me for my comments.
 
The draft, when it appeared, took my breath away. I hadn’t expected at this early stage to find a script that was so completely in harmony with the book. The elements which Phil had decided to cut or change, for reasons of space or theatrical effect, were not a problem at all. On the contrary, he had been extraordinarily inventive in the way he used the various scenes in the novel, making adjustments where he felt necessary but never losing the spirit of the story. I was especially impressed with the way he incorporated or modified the original dialogue. The few areas where the draft didn’t quite work required little comment from me as I found Dani and Phil had already flagged these passage up for revision. The second draft arrived a few weeks later and I read it with a lump in my throat. It’s still there."