The anonymous narrator's fate is to experience hell over and over again, each time his quest comes to an end, it begins again, and each times he forgets so that he has to experience its horrors as if for the first time over and over. In a letter to the American playwright William Saroyan, O'Brien said of his very particular hell: 'It is made clear that this sort of thing goes on for ever...when you are writing about the world of the dead – and the damned – where none of the rules and laws (not even the law of gravity) holds good, there is any amount of scope for back-chat and funny cracks'."

If the story itself and O'Briens vision of groundhog-day-hell prove difficult enough for adaptation, then the authors extensive usage of footnotes explaining and discussing the often absurd scientific theories of the de Selby character only serve to complicate matters further. But, if the book derives much of its pleasure from offering a plethora of both ambiguous and vivid textual wordplay and depictions, Jocelyn feels that delivering the text in a theatrical setting can add to the often dizzying effect of O'Briens narrative style.

"The challenge for transposing the world of O'Brien's book to the stage was to show this world. Having written a first draft, Niall (Henry – director), the six actors and I, world over two workshops refining the text, identifying the vents and incidents of the play, to show both this world and the central character's journey through it. Our first decision was to cast Sandra O'Malley as the anonymous narrator, and then doubling and trebling actors into other key roles, creating world in which both identity and appearance were in a constant state of flux – a key theme of the book.

In several key scenes the audience sees the black cash box continually transformed into something else, which the central character may not recognise but the audience does. This is equally true of the protean bicycles ('people bicycles' and 'bicycle people') of the book: the audience sees different parts of a bicycle, which are gradually assembled into a whole throughout the production, while the central character experiences them as something else. This transformation of things into other things transposes the meta-fictional impulses of O"Brien's book into theatrical metaphors for the stage. For all of us working on the production, the guiding principle in adapting O'Briens book was that we had to continually show the world of the book, the central character's journey through it and his gradual unravelling."

"We used some of the foot notes where we thought it enhanced the metaphysical elements of the play," adds Niall. "I think we should have used more actually, but we used very little of the word play as it wasn't theatrical and took away from what we were attempting. Theatre audiences have different needs to the reader so you use what works. This isn't a play of the book it is more a play inspired by the book or if you wish a play of one element of the book and I think the whole experience is about the imagination of the audience....at least I hope so."

And what do they believe O'Brien himself would make of their adaptation? "O'Brien had plans to turn it into a play, one that I would have been very curious to see," says Jocelyn. "I think O'Brien would like our production. It remains true to his book's spirit of antic fun, knowing satire and sly seriousness. In adapting The Third Policeman for the stage, Niall and I were interested in creating a piece of theatre that stood or fell as piece of theatre first. For audiences who were familiar with O'Brien's book, it would offer a new perspective on both O'Brien's writing and his very original book; for audiences who were unfamiliar with book, it would be a provocative and entertaining night in the theatre – and perhaps it would spark their interest in discovering O'Brien's hugely inventive work for themselves."

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