It's been a television series and a feature film; now one of our most celebrated fantasy novels for children could be about to be a stage production backed by our biggest theatre company.
Writer Pip Hall is adapting Maurice Gee's 1979 book Under The Mountain for theatre following a suggestion from her teenage daughter, Billie.
"It was a lightbulb moment for me," recalls Hall, who immediately looked into securing the rights and approached Auckland Theatre Company to gauge its interest in producing the story. ATC's literary unit manager Philippa Campbell didn't hesitate, saying she also instantly saw its potential.
Both are excited by the challenge of staging special effects like volcanic eruptions, giant slug-like creatures, harbour sailing scenes and under-the-water tunnels central to the spooky tale which lit the imaginations of a generation of New Zealand youngsters. In the story, twins Rachel and Theo Matheson visit Auckland to stay with their favourite relatives but are unaware that beneath the extinct volcanic craters and cones surrounding the city, terrifying giant creatures are stirring from a 1000-year sleep to destroy the world. Rachel and Theo are about to discover they have a weighty destiny: they've got to save the world from destruction.