In 2006 Katie Mitchell and her collaborators devised an original work for the National Theatre which transposed the vision of Virginia Woolf's experimental novel The Waves into an entirely new form. The intertwining narrative of six friends - from childhood to maturity and beyond - was rendered into a series of beautiful and poignant images onto a screen by live actors and musicians incorporating techniques taken from the theatre, radio and video production.

This deconstruction of the novel and theatrical method made process and production visible simultaneously and conveyed a uniquely moving and exhilarating experience to the audience. The book combines the text used from Woolf's novel with the corresponding images in order to create a record of the production, and a work of art in its own right. Waves is currently showing at the National Theatre, followed by an international tour.