A Time to Kill
John Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill , is long and, like many novels, detail oriented. (It also was a dud when it was first released. It wasn’t until Hollywood came calling about his subsequent novels that A Time to Kill got its due and was adapted for the screen.) Either one of those characteristics can make adapting a novel for the stage a tricky task, and both of them together certainly don’t make it any easier. Though this Rupert Holmes stage adaptation was not well-received, I like the production and applaud the creative team for what they did not include. I saw the play with a friend who had never read the novel. During intermission and after the play, I mentioned that a lot was left out, but I meant this as a good thing. A novel, much like a television series, is all about the detail and the middle. It’s not about the end point (which is why, perhaps, so many series finales are unsatisfying). Instead of trying to cram in every turn of events from Grisham’s novel, ...