Stage In June 1989 he acted in the play
Fathers and Sons in an
Independent Theatre production directed by
Rob Croser at
Theatre 62, in the Adelaide suburb of
Hilton. The play was written by Irish dramatist
Brian Friel and based on the
novel of the same name by
Ivan Turgenev. The following year he performed in another Independent Theatre production, this time
Joe Orton's 1965 play
Loot. Adamson's debut play was
Clocks and Whistles at the
Bush Theatre in 1996, directed by Bush artistic director
Dominic Dromgoole and with a cast including
Kate Beckinsale. It won rave reviews, and was later produced in Germany and New York. The play led to him becoming Pearson Writer in Residence at the Bush from 1997 to 1998. Adamson's second play was
Grace Note, His next play was
Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie at the Bush in 1999. He has written versions of
Henrik Ibsen's plays. ''
A Doll's House'', directed by
Thea Sharrock, was the tenth anniversary production at
Southwark Playhouse, London, in 2003, He also adapted two plays by
Anton Chekhov for tours for the
Oxford Stage Company, both directed by
Dominic Dromgoole:
Three Sisters, which transferred to the Whitehall Theatre, and
The Cherry Orchard, which moved to the
Riverside Studios. He adapted Bernhard Studlar's
Vienna Dreaming at the National Theatre Studio and
Arthur Schnitzler's
Professor Bernhardi for Dumbfounded Theatre at the
Arcola Theatre in 2005 and also on BBC Radio 3. He also wrote
Tomorrow Week for BBC Radio 3. It was later staged by the
Melbourne Theatre Company. His adaptation of
Truman Capote's ''
Breakfast at Tiffany's, starring Anna Friel and directed by Sean Mathias, opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London in September 2009. A Quiet Island'' was due to open at the Almeida in 2009, directed by Indhu Rubasingham, but was postponed owing to a clash of commitments. His play
Frank and Ferdinand, an interpretation of the story of the
Pied Piper, was part of the National Theatre Connections Festival in 2011, and was performed by young amateur companies all over Britain. Also in 2011, Adamson wrote a short play for the production
Decade, commissioned by
Rupert Goold for his company Headlong, performed at
St Katharine Docks and directed by Goold. In collaboration with trumpeter
Alison Balsom Adamson devised
Gabriel, a play using the music of
The Fairy Queen and other pieces by
Henry Purcell, staged as part of the 2013 summer season at
Shakespeare's Globe. The play was directed by Dominic Dromgoole and the cast included Alison Balsom,
Sam Cox, and
Jessie Buckley. He then worked with American singer
Tori Amos on the
musical The Light Princess, based on the
George MacDonald story
The Light Princess, staged at the National Theatre in 2013. In 2016, Adamson's adaptation of
Michael Morpurgo's children's novel
Running Wild was staged at the
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Directed by
Timothy Sheader and Dale Rooks, this was the largest scale production ever presented at the theatre, featuring a cast of 40 young people as well as life-sized
puppet animals. In 2019, his play
Wife (based on Ibsen's ''A Doll's House'') was staged at the
Kiln Theatre in
Kilburn, London. It was performed several times, including at
Daehangno Arts Theater, and sold out. In 2024, also at the Kiln, his musical
The Ballad of Hattie and James was staged. It was directed by Richard Twyman and starred
Charles Edwards,
Sophie Thompson, and
Suzette Llewellyn. Adamson names this production and
Wife at the Kiln as "real career highlights". Adamson remains in Adelaide for the duration of the production. but has said that he is not interested in writing for film or television, preferring the stage. ==Personal life==