Beryl Bainbridge

Beryl Bainbridge has assembled her writings, essays and reviews about the theatre to provide a highly individual view of contemporary theatre and actors.

It is 1950 & the Liverpool repertory theatre company is rehearsing its Christmas production of Peter Pan. Stella has been hired as an assistant stage manager, & creates an entirely different drama in which O'Hara is doomed to play the lead.

In the 1770s and 1780s Dr Johnson, having completed his life's work, is running an increasingly chaotic life. Torn between his strict morality and his undeclared passion for the widow of an old friend, he is revealed here in all his wit and glory.

Alan and his family are disturbed by the behaviour of Madge, his sister, who in the aftermath of World War 2, is conducting an affair with a German prisoner. Inexorably, Alan's conscience and love for his family lead to disaster.

An old snapshot shows a group of friends lounging in the sunshine, on a weekend in the country at the invitation of bearded, satyric Claude and his wife Julia. The girl in the centre is dreamy Lily, whose latest failed love affair forms the purpose of the weekend, as Lily's friends set out to help her ensnare an unwitting father for her unborn child.

William breezes into Ann's life as her boyfriend moves to America. Darting around on a borrowed bike, William leaves stranded behind him a trail of wives and mistresses. Ann soon learns she can't live without him, but can she live with him?

This title tells a highly personal, chronological account of Beryl Bainbridge's life and work through both her writings and paintings, providing a vivid first-hand portrait of this free-spirited and uniquely talented woman.