Trevor Nunn to Direct Stage Adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong in West End

Director Trevor Nunn will helm the world premiere of Rachel Wagstaff’s Birdsong, a stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’ best-selling novel, at the West End’s Comedy Theatre. Performances are set to begin on September 18, with opening night on September 28. The play is scheduled to run through January 15, 2011. Casting will be announced soon.

Birdsong, a 1993 novel by one of the Britain’s most popular writers, has sold more than three million copies worldwide. Wagstaff’s new play is the first-ever stage production based on a Faulks novel. She previously adapted the novelist’s The Girl at Lion d’Or for BBC Radio.

Birdsong tells of one man’s journey through an all-consuming love affair and into the horror of World War I. While staying as the guest of a factory owner in France, Stephen Wraysford embarks on a passionate affair with Isabelle, the wife of his host. The affair changes them both forever. A few years later Stephen finds himself back in the same part of France, but this time as a soldier at the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest encounter in British military history. As his men die around him, Stephen turns to his enduring love for Isabelle for the strength to continue and to save something for future generations.