This chapter establishes the book’s theoretical and methodological framework, applying translation studies perspectives to novel to stage adaptation. It introduces a twofold model integrating intersemiotic translation and intermedial circulation to analyse adaptation. The chapter redefines translation as an intersemiotic activity, extending beyond linguistic models to multimodal meaning-making and connects it to adaptation as a creative act. Using Kobus Marais’s representamen translation formulation, it examines how adaptations translate meaning across semiotic systems. Additionally, it adapts Bourdieu’s concept of international circulation to propose intermedial circulation, exploring how narratives transition across media under sociocultural influences. The chapter concludes by synthesizing these perspectives, positioning adaptation as an intersemiotic and intermedial negotiation.