A Hindi adaptation of the play, Bechara Mara Gaya,[2] was made into a film.[3] Another earlier adaptation, Dhool Me Lipta Sach, ran in Pune.[4] A Chinese adaptation with some changes to the original script was directed by Meng Jinghui.[5]
Ed Emery was the translator for an authorised English-language version of the play.[6] In 1979, Gavin Richards of the socialist political theatre group Belt and Braces developed an adaptation that was staged at London's Wyndham's Theatre with both Richards and Alfred Molina alternating in the lead role of "The Maniac", for which Richards was nominated for an Olivier Award. A TV movie of the play, with the Belt and Braces cast and Richards once more in the lead, was commissioned by Channel 4 in 1983 and broadcast the subsequent year.[7][8]
A sequel, Pum pum! Chi è? La polizia! (Knock Knock! Who's There? The Police!), was written in 1974.[9] Semiotician Umberto Eco commented favourably on the sequel in his column in the newspaper L'Espresso.[10]
An English adaptation by Tom Basden starring Daniel Rigby premiered at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield in October 2022 before transferring to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in May 2023 and then the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End in June 2023.
