Alice's Playhouse
In Alice's Playhouse you will discover an exceptional collection of feature films adapted from some of the most celebrated plays ever written. Often featuring towering performances, outstanding direction and exceptional writing, this collection is a superb archive of contemporary drama masterfully transferred to the silver screen.
Filmizations of The Bard's work may be scrolled via the 'Shakespeare' sub-feature in green on the left, along with other notable playwrights who have been adapted for celluloid.
For adaptations of novels and short stories, check the 'Special Interest' link and click on 'Based on...'
Right: Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh relax during the filming of Tennessee Williams' masterpiece, 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.
Twelfth Night (1988)
7/10
Director: Paul Kafno
Starring: Richard Briers, Caroline Langrishe
The tale begins when a brother and sister are separated in a shipwreck, but survive to be washed up on the shore of Illyria. The sister, Viola, disgui... Read more
Twelfth Night (1996)
7.3/10
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Kingsley
Shakespeare's richest and most haunting 'comedy' of would be lovers and mistaken identity is given lavish treatment with Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham... Read more
Twelfth Night (1969)
7.1/10
Director: John Sichel
Starring: Alec Guinness, Tommy Steele, Ralph Richardson, Joan Plowright, Gary Raymond, Adr...
After a shipwreck, believing her brother has been killed, Viola disguises herself as a boy named Cesario and becomes a courtier to Orsino, who sends h... Read more
Twelfth Night (BBC) (1980)
8.1/10
Director: John Gorrie
Starring: Alec McCowen, Robert Hardy, Felicity Kendal, Sinead Cusack, Trevor Peacock
Directed by John Gorrie, this BBC production of Shakespeare's romantic comedy stars Felicity Kendall as Viola, a shipwrecked girl who disguises hersel... Read more
Una (2016)
6.2/10
Director: Benedict Andrews
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn, Tara Fitzgerald, Riz Ahmed, Rooney Mara
Opened out by David Harrower from his 2005 stage two-hander Blackbird, the first feature directed by the Australian stage director-dramatist Benedict... Read more
Uncle Vanya (1962)
7.2/10
Director: Stuart Burge
Starring: Joan Plowright, Laurence Olivier, Max Adrian, Michael Redgrave, Sybil Thorndike
The film of the highly acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre production of Anton Chekhov's play. Chekhov's portrayal of the frustrations and disillusi... Read more
Under Milk Wood (1971)
6.3/10
Director: Andrew Sinclair
Starring: Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter O'Toole
This film version of a wonderfully evocative radio play weaves a magical tapestry of words around the lives and dreams of the inhabitants of the tiny... Read more
Venus in Fur (2013)
7.2/10
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
Welcome to Roman Polanskis hall of mirrors. David Ive's play Venus in Fur is a two-hander, set in a theatre, about a director auditioning an actress... Read more
Wait Until Dark (1967)
7.8/10
Director: Terence Young
Starring: Alan Arkin, Audrey Hepburn, Jack Weston, Richard Crenna
Classic suspense story stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized in her apartment by crooks looking for a doll given to her by her husband that... Read more
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
7.8/10
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson
The second of three adaptations of Robert E Sherwood's acclaimed play, this 1940 film was noticably dampened by the omnipotent Motion Picture Producti... Read more