[wicked_boy]

Because all my exams finish in a couple weeks, I'm going to be super bored. To pass the time away untill the Summer; I've deicded to adapt a couple stories into short plays. However, I was wondering, could someone tell me if the following stories are in public domain in the UK?

- The Wizard of Oz (I'm pretty sure, I just want to check.)
- Alice in Wonderland.
- Oliver Twist.
- A Christmas Carol.
- Treasure Island.

I'm not too good the copyright laws and don't understand half the stuff that came up on Google.

[pish123c]

As long as you're writing them for your own private enjoyment and you don't plan on putting on productions of the plays, you have no reason to worry about copyright laws.

[wicked_boy]

Oooh, ok.

Thanks.

[Theaterfan101]

[wicked_boy]

Ooh, what exams you got?

[Theaterfan101]

you mean like final exams right? In all the core subject. We call them exams

[wicked_boy]

Are you American, or English?

I'm English. We have SATS exams and GCSE's over the next couple weeks.

[Theaterfan101]

ohh, I see. Yeah, I'm American, and a freshman so I don't have all that stuff now. But next week are the AP exams, for the seniors, and select juniors and sophomores.

[wicked_boy]

None of that means anything to me!

I only found out that freshman, sophmore etc are names for the different year groups a couple weeks ago.

[Theaterfan101]

freshman = first year in high school (9th grade) or first year of college
sophomore-second yeah in high school (10th grade) or college
junior- third year
senior- forth year

AP exams are advance placement and the whole country has the test for these designated classes on the same day.

[Cake_in_Song]

Public domain is usually 50 years after the author's death. At least, that's what it is for playwrights. I think the family can have that changed, though.

[wicked_boy]

Public Domain really confuses me.

I'm pretty sure The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is in public domain. However, I know Peter Pan is protected by GOSH in the UK, but isn't in Australia, or something like that.

[mizzie]

Les Misérables is public domain.

But I'm pretty sure that one's been covered.

[wicked_boy]

Let's face it, that dodgy cover of Les Miz isn't any good. Urgh, it is terrible.













*I joke.*

[Orestes Fasting]

The general rule of thumb is that if it was published before 1923, or the author's been dead more than 70 years, it's public domain.

[wicked_boy]

^ Thanks. I did some research last night and found a HUGE list of classics that are in public domain.

[bigR]

In the European Union a work falls into public domain 70 years after the author's death. Which means that you can do whatever you want with lewis carroll and Dickens If someone died before 1938, you are free to do whatever you want with their books and the only thing they can do is spin madly in their graves.
I don't know about authors from other countries. But again, as someone already told you, if you don't intend to publish your work or get economic profit from it, you can play with any novel they way you like.

[Salome]

everything on your list is public domain

[wicked_boy]

Salome = simple answer!

I'm thinking about writing a play based loosley on Alice in Wonderland and probably getting it performed in a little fundraising event coming up near me soon.

Thanks to everyone who replied, it's definately cleared a lot of things up!