Mention The Birds and Alfred Hitchcock’s chilling 1963 movie is probably the first thing that comes to mind. The suspenseful thriller in which the inhabitants of a coastal town are attacked by huge flocks of marauding birds is now considered one of the greatest horror films of all time.

Hitchcock’s movie was loosely based on a short story by British writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1952. And it was the short story, not the film, that Louise Fox turned to when she was commissioned to write a new stage adaptation for Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre.

Paula Arundell in a promotional image for The Birds at Malthouse Theatre. Photo © Kristian Gehradte

Paula Arundell in a promotional image for The Birds at Malthouse Theatre. Photo © Kristian Gehradte

It was Matthew Lutton, Malthouse’s former Artistic Director and co-CEO, who came up with the idea. Recently appointed as the new Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival, he will return to Melbourne to direct the one-person production, which stars Paula Arundell.

“Hitchcock probably only used a third of the story (if that) in his...