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Transforming Birdsong into a play

18 October 2010

'I believed right from the start it would work powerfully on stage because it's the story of one man, with a very strong central narrative drive, questioning what it means to be human, I don't know a more dramatic question than that. Also, for me, it says that no matter what happens, there is always the possibility of redemption. I hope the play will make you cry, but make you come out wanting to live...

As long as I'm working on something I believe matters I'm very happy to scrape by. I think that bringing a story like this back to the public consciousness, when there's no one left alive who remembers it, is very important.'

Unknown playwright Rachel Wagstaff on dramatising Sebastian Faulks' First World War novel Birdsong