A gripping new adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s international best-selling novel Never Let Me Go arrives at Bristol Old Vic in November, so we caught up with Suzanne Heathcote ahead of the world premiere telling the heart-breaking ‘near-fi’ tale about love and loss to find out more about her creative process.
It’s only natural to ponder on your life’s purpose. What are we doing here? How can we live a more meaningful existence? But how would you feel if your whole reason for being was brought into question? Hopes, dreams, feelings for others, plans for the future – plans for what you’ll eat for dinner tomorrow… these would become meaningless in a dystopian society that values only what you give to another person you’ll never get to know or meet.
Curious to know more? Kazuo Ishiguro’s incredible novel Never Let Me Go drops us into such a world, following the lives of Kathy, Tommy and Ruth as they navigate friendship, love and predetermined fates – and confront what it means to be human.
The novel’s themes have been given a fresh perspective in Suzanne Heathcote’s (Killing Eve, The Crowded Room) new adaptation for stage, which sees memory and reality collide in gripping fashion. Here, Suzanne tells us about the journey from page to stage…
This play has been a long time in the making! Back in 2015, my literary agent asked if I would be interested in writing a stage adaptation for the book – which I absolutely was – and I met with Kazuo, who was incredibly generous and supportive from the outset. He told me to not be precious with the novel and to really make the play my own – which is an incredible gift to be given by the author. It was then several years later when Chris Hayden, the artistic director of The Rose theatre, got in touch about commissioning the play and potentially scheduling it for production. I spend a lot of time writing film and television in Los Angeles, so when all the screenwriters went on strike last year, I knew it was the perfect moment to focus entirely on the play and I wrote the first full draft of the script during that period.
I was, and am, such a huge fan of Kazuo’s work. I love the way he reveals his stories through his characters. Never Let Me Go is made up of these beautifully crafted, nuanced observations from Kathy’s perspective that enable you to understand her and the people she’s observing with such insight. I think that’s why his novels are so moving. You develop such a profound empathy and understanding for the people and worlds he creates.
During the course of my creative process, I read the book so many times I was able to reference it without looking at the text. This was really just a consequence of having sat with it for so long, but it gave me an enormous freedom when writing the scenes, as I felt I knew the characters instinctively and could own them in the way I needed to. With regards to the story itself, the book is made up of lots of tiny, beautiful moments, which are wonderful to read but very hard to put on stage, so I needed to find ways to take the essence of those moments and make them scenes that worked dramatically. I mapped out all of Kathy’s memories and took the ones that I felt were most important to tell the story. I then tried to find ways to weave them in and out of Kathy’s present-day arc. Another challenge was deciding who Kathy is talking to, as in the novel she’s the main narrator. I really didn’t want her to give a direct address to the audience throughout the play, so I needed to find another way for her take us through these memories. There’s a moment in the first chapter of the book where Kathy mentions someone she was caring for, who would ask her lots of questions about her childhood – and it came to me that this relationship was the way into Kathy’s past and the play.
The essence of the story for me has always been the love story between the three main characters. Thematically the novel is also about a subclass who have been placed within a system without their consent, but with their silent compliance. That being said, the novel doesn’t show you their community from the outside, which is why I believe it’s so effective. The disturbing elements of their world are all the more shocking if you fall in love with the characters first and only experience the system they’re in through their personal journeys, which is what I really wanted to replicate in the play.
The main way that my adaptation differs to the novel is that I show Kathy in her ‘present day’ in a way the book doesn’t. The character of Phillip was created for the play and all the scenes taking Kathy and Phillip through their present-day journeys were written for the adaptation. I felt there was an opportunity in this version to see what Kathy’s day-to-day life was while she rediscovers her past, as well as understanding the reality of the system she and the others were born into from their perspective.
‘Near-fi’ is an expression used to describe the kind of stories where the world depicted is totally recognisable, except for one particular element or shift; that’s exactly what this play is to me. It shows a world we all recognise, apart from this one major system in place, which still feels frighteningly believable. As a love story, I think it’s relatable to all of us. These are young characters, coming of age and navigating all the elements of that journey. But when we stand back, we realise that these characters are actually part of a subclass that the rest of society has chosen to dehumanise. What the book, and hopefully the play does, is make us see that the subclass these people have been forced into has made them appear different. But in reality, they are no different to you and me.
Finding ways to weave the memories together was both challenging and incredibly rewarding. It’s been like creating a mosaic where every small element builds to the bigger story. I also loved writing scenes for the parts that we don’t see in the book, being able to really imagine how those moments in Kathy’s life actually played out. There’s something incredibly exciting in writing new scenes for characters you’ve come to love and know so well.
Working with the whole creative team has been a wonderful process from the start. Firstly, with Ish (Kazuo) who, as I mentioned, has been incredibly supportive and generous throughout and was at the opening night, which was wonderful. Chris Hayden, the director, really gave me the freedom to write the play, which sounds obvious but it’s not always the case that you’re really given the room to sit with the work and approach it in your own way. He really supported me taking that space so I could find my way through the first draft, which is just what I needed for an adaptation like this. His guidance from that first draft on to production was also invaluable.
The creative team involved have all brought so much to the production, taking it above and beyond my initial vision with such poignance and in ways that have really enhanced the storytelling.
I think a stand out moment for me was when I first heard the song Never Let Me Go written by Eamonn O’Dwyer [an original title track written for the play]. I was so moved hearing Marisha Wallace’s vocal, which seemed to perfectly encapsulate both the pain and hope in the play. I also can’t go without mentioning the cast, who have been utterly exceptional. They’re a wonderful company who care for and support one another deeply, which makes a huge difference in a production like this. Seeing these characters come to life with such talent has been incredibly rewarding. It really has been a dream team.
Never Let Me Go is at Bristol Old Vic from 5-23 November; for tickets and more information, visit bristololdvic.org.uk. All show production images were taken by Hugo Glendinning.
