From graphic narrative to multi-media stage: Transmogrifying The Diary of a Teenage Girl

The Diary of a Teenage Girl, a critically acclaimed graphic narrative of 2002, was adapted for the stage in 2010. This article considers the medium-based slippage and enhancement that occurred when the original was reworked in terms of a materially different genre. The use of graphic material as source seems to be on the rise (Broadway's Spiderman being an obvious example) and the use of electronic media is increasingly available to theatre artists of even modest financial means. Therefore, the 'migration and transformation of discursive elements between different discourses' - Clem Robyns's definition of translation, and his understanding of discourse to mean an entire medium as langue - deserves attention as a site of critical enquiry in theatre, performance and translation studies; it comes into sharp focus in this project. As Kate Sturge writes: