Brokeback Mountain stage adaptation given the green light

Oliver Mitford 22 September, 2015, 14:44

A stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain has been given to go ahead by Annie Proulx, the writer of the original 1997 short story, and it looks as though we might be seeing the heart-breaking love story in the West End as early as next year.

West End producer Tom O’Connell is the driving force behind the ambitious project, having recently acquired the stage rights. Proulx said in a statement ‘I am looking forward with sharp anticipation to the stage interpretation. It has been a strange journey for two messed-up wannabe cow-hands from Wyoming’.

Set against the backdrop of 1960s Wyoming, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two ranch hands named Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar who are hired to herd sheep through the summer on Brokeback Mountain. The pair fall madly in love with each other and continue their affair over the years, through marriages and children, never quite able to be together for more than a few days.

Brokeback Mountain was made into a feature film in 2005, staring Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist and Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar. Directed by Ang Lee, the film also stared Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway and Randy Quaid. It proved to be a huge critical and commercial success, winning Best Picture and Best Director at the British Academy Film Awards and The Golden Globes. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, going on to win three for Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Possible West End theatres that might house the new play are yet to be confirmed, as is any casting, but look out for more news on Brokeback Mountain coming very soon…