Something in the Air: Louise Fox on Adapting THE BIRDS

First published in 1952, Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds is a masterclass in creeping dread. Set in a remote English village, the story follows Nat Hocken, a farm worker who notices an unsettling shift in bird behaviour – small, almost imperceptible at first, until flocks begin launching violent, coordinated attacks. Cut off from the outside world, Nat and his family are forced into a brutal fight for survival.

More than just a tale of nature turning against humanity, The Birds is a tense, psychological exploration of fear, powerlessness, and the fragility of human control. Du Maurier offers no explanations – no mad scientists, no government conspiracies – just an eerie, apocalyptic shift that forces her characters into survival mode. The story lingers in the mind long after its final, ambiguous moments, leaving readers to wonder whether resilience is enough in the face of an unknowable force.

Now, acclaimed writer Louise Fox has taken on the challenge of adapting this unsettling classic for the stage at Malthouse Theatre, bringing a sharp, contemporary lens to du Maurier’s world, amplifying its psychological tension while exploring its resonance in an age of uncertainty.

Louise’s career has traversed television, film, theatre and radio. She is the co-creator and showrunner of ABC/Netflix drama series GLITCH which won the Logie and the AACTA for best drama series. Most recently, she wrote on the drama series PROSPER  (Lingo Pictures/STAN) and SIGNIFICANT OTHERS (ABC/Fremantle).

She wrote an episode of the critically-acclaimed and BAFTA-winning UK drama BROADCHURCH, as well as THE KETTERING INCIDENT for Porchlight Films. The latter series won the AACTA for Best Television Drama Series and Screen Producers Award for Best Miniseries. Louise wrote the feature screenplay DEAD EUROPE, adapted from the  novel by Christos Tsiolkas. The film premiered in competition at the Sydney Film Festival, was nominated for an AACTA and the screenplay won both the NSW Premier’s Award and the Queensland Literary Award.

Louise’s theatre work includes dramaturg at Sydney Theatre Company (STC), co-devisor of EXCAVATION, and writer of additional

material for Paul Capsis’s show at the Sydney Opera House. Her adaptation of Kafka’s THE TRIAL was staged by the STC in Sydney, the Malthouse in Melbourne, and Thin Ice in Perth. Her adaptation of Moliere’s TARTUFFE played at the Malthouse and her play, THIS LITTLE PIGGY was performed at the Sydney Theatre Company. Her adaptation of Dario Fo’s ELIZABETH (ALMOST BY CHANCE A WOMAN) co-written with Luke Devenish was performed at Malthouse Theatre and the Queensland Theatre Company. Louise has a number of projects currently in development.

Can you tell me a bit about your background with writing and adapting, particularly in theatre?

Louise: I’ve been writing, adapting and devising in the theatre for decades. I started off as a performer in various theatre companies, including Gilgul theatre where we self-devised a lot of work we did. I’ve worked as a screenwriter, dramaturg and a playwright. I wrote an imagined sequel to Animal Farm – “This Little Piggy” which was performed at the STC. I adapted Moliere’s “Tartuffe” for the Malthouse and Kafka’s “The Trail” for Malthouse theatre, Perth’s Thin Ice and the STC (both of which Matt Lutton directed) and I co-adapted with Luke Devenish a Dario Fo play, “Elizabeth – Almost By Chance a Women” for Queensland Theatre Company and for the Malthouse but I’ve largely worked in film and television as a screenwriter/producer.

What is the key vision you had for this adaptation of The Birds?

Louise: I think we adhered closely to the architecture of the Daphne Du Maurier story but we didn’t want to set it in ‘the past’ so we’ve updated it but hopefully without losing any of what we loved about the original. Then once we decided it was going to be a one woman show we placed Paula’s character at the centre of story and tried to craft a surprising human journey which speaks to the horror genre but also has elements of the mythic and the heroic. We were inspired by the ideas in the story but also the current moment and all the different ways that we, as a community, have responded to the catastrophes we’ve been dealt.

How did you navigate the balance between staying true to Daphne du Maurier’s source material and adding your own contemporary twist?

Louise: I did what I hope to do in all adaptations, which is keep what I think is essential to the architecture, the themes and the plot and jettison what doesn’t feel relevant. I imagined this story happening now, in a seaside town on the Victorian Coast, to someone that I could access and understand. I loved a lot of Du Maurier’s language and imagery but a lot wasn’t colloquial or contemporary enough and described a Cornwall setting not relevant to the Australian landscape. So, I think this adaptation has more Australian-ess and humour in it. I also felt the short story was very action heavy and didn’t delve deeply into the psychology of the characters. So, I think that’s another area that has developed in the process of the adaptation;  understanding what the characters are thinking about  and the kinds of question they’re asking themselves.

The Birds explores themes of fear, survival, and the unexpected. How do these themes play out in your adaptation, and what contemporary issues or anxieties are you drawing from?

Louise: Du Maurier is a writer who deals brilliantly with anxiety and fear which is why I think she’s so apt for the present moment. This story was written just after the end of the war, at the start of the cold war and the English were crawling out of a national crisis. Everyone was trying to put their lives back together. There was fear and distrust around a range of institutions and authorities and their reliability and a real sense of the vulnerability of people, so I don’t think we’ve had to work hard to find contemporary analogies for all that. And beyond the personal, the social and political resonances there’s ordinary people struggling against nature and in battle with nature which feels particularly resonant at the moment.

This production has been adapted as a one-woman show. What inspired you to take this approach, and how does it impact the storytelling and the audience’s experience?

Louise: Matt [Lutton, and I had talked about it being a one person show from early on. I think it allows for a very intimate relationship with the performer. A chance to watch someone like Paula, (who is at the top of her game) be virtuosic; play everybody and do everything that we admire theatre performers for. I think there’s a real thrill about finding the right performer at the right time and giving them a chance to be a theatre Olympian. It allows us to take a story that could be quite genre and make it an enthralling, exciting and deeply emotional experience.

The birds often serve as a metaphor for fear and chaos. How have you interpreted this metaphor in the play, and what new layers or nuances have you brought to it?

Louise: I think the idea of the birds can be interpreted through a range of blights or catastrophes that can happen, even to a highly technologically evolved society. I think updating it to incorporate conspiracy thinking, disinformation, and misinformation feels like it speaks to the current era, but I also liked the idea of keeping the metaphor open and somewhat mythic so as not to reduce it to just one thing. I think that’s part of the appeal and why the original story works.

What are you hoping audiences will experience when they watch The Birds on stage?

Louise: I like to think of it as a 3D or a 4D experience because you’re in the theatre and the story is happening and performer is there but the lights and the curated sound world (with headphones for each audience member) make it feel so much more visceral and submersive. So, like all theatre, it’s operating in the realm of the imagination but enhanced with tech. And along the way you’re with Paula on her journey as she asks questions about why this is happening as it’s happening to her and all around us, the audience.

After The Birds, are there other films, books, or themes that you’re interested in adapting or exploring in your future work?

Louise: There’s plenty. I’d never adapted a short story before The Birds and actually there’s something about the short story form that lends itself to a very cohesive coherent theatrical length. So, if the story was right I’d really like to look at a few more short stories to see how they can be adapted. I know they often work well in film but the right story can work really well on stage too. I’ve had a long history with adaptation. I’ve adapted novels into plays. Novels into films. I write original material too but also have loved adapting from one form into another.

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The Birds opens at Malthouse Theatre from May 16th.

For tickets and more information, visit the Malthouse Theatre website.