Sci-fi classic Solaris adapted for Edinburgh’s Lyceum
The Edinburgh Lyceum team up with Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre for a stage adaptation of Solaris, Stanisław Lem’s classic science fiction novel turned into film by both Tarkovsky and Soderbergh
Existential sci-fi is heading to the Lyceum next year, with the Edinburgh theatre teaming up with the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne to adapt Stanisław Lem’s 1961 novel Solaris for the stage. Made most famous by Andrei Tarkovsky’s extraordinary film adaptation in 1972, the book concerns a psychologist who visits a distant space station orbiting the planet Solaris to investigate the wellbeing of the astronauts on-board. The psychologist soon starts to see visions of human forms, including his own wife who died years earlier. Steven Soderbergh remade Solaris in 2002 starring George Clooney as the psychologist.
“Tarkovsky’s film is moving and atmospheric but discovering the novel was like uncovering a whole new layer – lively and witty and playful and strange – both as familiar and unfamiliar as Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or Red Dwarf,” says Lyceum Artistic Director David Greig, who’s written the Solaris stage play.
Greig describes the process of this adaption as being like exploring a newly discovered planet. “I had no idea Stanisław Lem’s book was so funny,” he says, “so moving, and such a fascinating philosophical disquisition on the eternal human problem of our relationship with ‘the other’ – whether that other is a person, a planet, a lover or a monster.”
Expect this stage adaptation to riff on the future as it was imagined in the 1960s by Lem. “Science fiction on stage is so often about tin foil, sliding doors and empty space,” says Greig, “whereas this is about mahogany bookcases, smoking cigarettes and spools of tape.”
One change we do know is that Greig's psychologist – Dr Kris Kelvin – will be female. This part hasn't been cast as yet, but we do know Australian actor Eamon Farren will be part of the production. Matthew Lutton of Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre will be on directing duty. “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work with Malthouse Theatre again," says Greig, "following the stylishly sinister Picnic at Hanging Rock. Matthew Lutton is an incredible director – creative and cool – and I can’t wait to see him bring the script to life with our international cast.”
Solaris will open as part of Malthouse Theatre’s 2019 season in June before transferring to Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre later in the year. Dates for The Royal Lyceum Theatre are still to be announced. Keep an eye on updates at lyceum.org.uk