full-length play produced in 2006 at the Playwrights’ Center
based on the 1912 novel* by Edgar Rice Burroughs
full video on YouTube
review in Variety
“…satisfyingly pulpy and frothy, frenetic, more than a bit odd and unapologetically entertaining.”
review of the DVD on the blog of a passionate Burroughs fan
“If someone had told me that the best live adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars would be a play, I would not have believed it.”
feature on the blog of another passionate Burroughs fan
mention on the same blog (scroll down maybe 80%)
“This play perfectly adapts the story into a minimalist stage production that is faithful to the story in an awesome way.”
A Princess of Mars begins when Civil War veteran John Carter is mysteriously transported to the red planet, where tribes of Martians live in a state of perpetual warfare. His Earth-acclimated muscles make our hero the greatest warrior of them all; but martial honor means nothing to him, because he has fallen in love with a beautiful Martian princess. Does she love him in return? He must fight his way across the planet to find out.
Masks and puppet heads help to present Martians and the weird native wildlife. Costumes and other design elements draw upon Earth cultures from Africa to China to ancient Egypt. And our hero can leap a hundred feet! (Theatrically, not literally.)
A Princess of Mars is a good old-fashioned pulpy adventure story – fun even for people who aren’t big fans of science fiction. Although the show contains scenes of stylized violence, we consider it suitable for anyone who isn’t frightened by actors talking like scary monsters.
cast: 7M, 2F
* never before, to the best of our knowledge, adapted for the theater
