Caitlin Vincent takes us inside Victorian Opera’s new adaptation of Helen Garner’s award-winning novel The Spare Room.

Helen Garner. Photo © Darren James

Popular culture is rife with adaptation. Take Christopher Nolan’s 2026 blockbuster The Odyssey, based on Homer’s epic poem from the late-8th century BCE. Or Netflix’s cinematic takes on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s pioneer novel Little House on the Prairie and Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes detective series. Or Amazon Prime Video’s swoony Off Campus and Every Year After, both based on romance novels. Or any number of musicals based on other sources, among them Les Misérables, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls and The Phantom of the Opera.

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