Orbital Stage Adaptation
News
Orbital stage adaptation to come to BSU
Friday, 17 April, 2026Dr Samantha Harvey, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at BSU, shot to international superstardom when her book, Orbital, won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2024. Now, for the first time, Orbital will be adapted for the stage by BSU’s students.
Initial plans for the adaptation were devised by Senior Lecturer in Drama, Dr Kerrie Reading. The introspective nature of Orbital presented a particular challenge when creating a staged adaptation; much of the book is occupied by internal ruminations on the planet, the state of humanity, and the crew’s personal matters.
In the planned production, the students involved will be using a combination of physical performance and audiovisual effects to accurately portray the intricate emotions in the book’s internal monologues.
To help the students find their own personal connection to the book, Kerrie encouraged them to draw on their life experiences. In particular, they were asked to ruminate on what it felt like when they were dropped off at university in their first year, one connection loosening, while new connections between their flatmates and course mates began to form.
A conversation with Sam Harvey in one of the sessions encouraged the students to reflect on COVID and lockdown – a period in which some of Orbital was written. Readers can observe similar feelings of disconnection and connection in Orbital, where the astronauts are distant observers of Earth, disconnected from their family and friends, yet begin to make new connections.
The students involved in staging Orbital will not only be acting; they will also be directing, writing the script, and handling the tech. These varied roles emphasise the multidisciplinary nature of the BA Drama course, in which students can choose to specialise across a wide range of technical skills.
This production is part of BA Drama’s Level 5 Making Performance 2 module. In this module, students are encouraged to experiment with different forms of theatre and push boundaries.
The performance began after a conversation between Kerrie and Samantha Harvey, merging the practices of the School of Music and Performing Arts and the School of Writing, Publishing and Humanities. This emphasises the collaborative nature that lies at the very heart of BSU’s values, reflecting its dedication to providing students with a wholly interdisciplinary university experience.
Discussing the performance, Senior Lecturer in Drama, Dr Kerrie Reading:
“This is an incredible opportunity for the students to perform a piece of work that feels unperformable... It allows the students to see the academic world beyond the ‘bubble’ of their own course and undertake a similar creative experience to that which they’d encounter in the workplace.”
Orbital will be staged as a part of this year’s SparkFest, which will run throughout May. Catch the production at the University Theatre on 12 and 13 May and buy tickets on the SparkFest website.