Lord of the Flies (New Adventures and Re:Bourne) ★★★
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954), about a group of British schoolboys marooned on a tropical island during a nuclear war, has been adapted for radio, stage, and screen. Acclaimed theatre director Peter Brook’s austere, 1963 black-and-white film, with a superb cast, is by far the best and only authentic one of three screen adaptations to date. Stage versions by Nigel Williams (1996) and Timothy Sheader (2011) have been well received around Britain as recently as 2016. Why it has not been made into an opera for young singers is hard to fathom.
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