Author | Beryl Bainbridge |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Psychological Fiction, Theatre-fiction |
Publisher | Duckworth |
Publication date | 1989 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
ISBN | 978-0-7531-5120-4 |
Preceded by | Watson's Apology |
Followed by | The Birthday Boys |
An Awfully Big Adventure is a novel written by Beryl Bainbridge. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1990 [1] and adapted as a movie in 1995. The story was inspired by Bainbridge's own experiences working at the Liverpool Playhouse in her youth. [2] The title is an ironic reference to the original Peter Pan story, in which Peter says "To die will be an awfully big adventure."
Set in working-class England in 1950, [3] the story observes sexual politics among a troupe of actors working at a shabby regional playhouse. During a Christmas production of Peter Pan , the play turns into a dark metaphor for youth when Stella Bradshaw, an ambitious teenage girl from the slums of Liverpool, joins the company and gets entangled in the backstage intrigue.
In 1995, Fine Line Features released a motion picture adaptation starring Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant and then-unknown actress Georgina Cates in the central role. The film was directed by Mike Newell and is one of the few film versions of Bainbridge's works.
Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge was an English writer. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. She won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996, and was nominated five times for the Booker Prize. She was described in 2007 as a national treasure. In 2008, The Times named Bainbridge on their list of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Rita Tushingham is a British actress. She is known for her starring roles in films including A Taste of Honey (1961), The Leather Boys (1964), The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Smashing Time (1967). For A Taste of Honey, she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and Most Promising Newcomer at both the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe Awards. Her other film appearances include An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Under the Skin (1997), Being Julia (2004), and Last Night in Soho (2021).
Nicola Mary Pagett Scott, known professionally as Nicola Pagett, was a British actress, known for her role as Elizabeth Bellamy in the 1970s TV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1973), as well as being one of the leads in the sitcom Ain't Misbehavin' (1994–1995). Her film appearances included Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Frankenstein: The True Story (1973), Operation Daybreak (1975), Privates on Parade (1982) and An Awfully Big Adventure (1995).
Carol Drinkwater is a British actress, writer and filmmaker residing in France. She portrayed Helen Herriot in the television adaptation of the James Herriot books All Creatures Great and Small, which led to her receiving the Variety Club Television Personality of the Year award in 1985.
Charles Gerald Wood was an English playwright and scriptwriter for radio, television, and film.
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, interacting with fairies, pirates, mermaids, Native Americans, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside Neverland.
Master Georgie is a 1998 historical novel by English novelist Beryl Bainbridge. It deals with the British experience of the Crimean War through the adventures of the eponymous central character George Hardy, who volunteers to work on the battlefields.
An Awfully Big Adventure is a 1995 British coming-of-age film directed by Mike Newell. The story concerns a girl who joins a local repertory theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of Peter Pan, the play quickly turns into a dark metaphor for youth as she becomes drawn into a web of sexual politics and intrigue.
The 48th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 1995. The Palme d'Or went to Underground by Emir Kusturica.
Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, often known simply as Peter Pan, is a work by J. M. Barrie, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel titled Peter and Wendy, often extended as Peter Pan and Wendy. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and has many adventures on the island of Neverland that is inhabited by mermaids, fairies, Native Americans, and pirates. The Peter Pan stories also involve the characters Wendy Darling and her two brothers John and Michael, Peter's fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the pirate Captain Hook. The play and novel were inspired by Barrie's friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family.
The Bottle Factory Outing is a 1974 novel by English writer Beryl Bainbridge. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize that year, won the Guardian Fiction Prize and is regarded as one of her best. It is also listed as one of the 100 greatest novels of all time by Robert McCrum of The Observer. The book was inspired by Beryl Bainbridge's own experiences working as a cellar girl in a bottling factory after her divorce in 1959.
The Dressmaker is a gothic psychological novel written by Beryl Bainbridge. In 1973, it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like many of Bainbridge's earlier works, the novel is semi-autobiographical. In particular, the story was inspired by a relationship that she had with a soldier as a teenager. The characters of Nellie and Margo were based upon two of her paternal aunts.
Young Adolf is a novel written by author Beryl Bainbridge, and first published in 1978 by Duckworth. Presented as biographical fiction, the book's main character is 23-year-old Adolf Hitler. Hitler visits relatives in Liverpool, where he gets into serious trouble with the English.
Jonathan Paul Harvey is an English screenwriter, actor, playwright and author.
Victor Glynn is a film and television producer and writer.
Elizabeth Heery is a British actress, screenwriter and novelist. As an actress and author she works under the name Elizabeth Morton and Eliza Morton. She played Madeline Bassett in ITV series Jeeves and Wooster. Since 2016, she has been an ambassador for the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond. She trained at the Guildhall School of Drama and The Royal Court Young Writers Group.
Ian Trigger was a British actor of stage, film and television who had a successful career in the United States. A diminutive actor, Trigger's long career saw him working in the West End, on Broadway and across America. He first appeared in the United States with the Young Vic company following which he lived there for many years.
The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress is the last novel by writer Beryl Bainbridge published in 2011 following her death. As explained in the postscript:
Beryl Bainbridge was in the process of finishing The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress when she died on 2 July 2010. Her long-time friend and editor, Brendan King prepared the text for publication from her working manuscript, taking into account suggestions Beryl made at the end of her life. No additional material has been included.
Mum and Mr. Armitage is the first short story collection by English author Beryl Bainbridge containing twelve stories and published in 1985 by Gerald Duckworth & Co and in 1987 by McGraw-Hill in the United States.