Nigel introduced the theme….
It’s Grim Up North
(aka Thatcher’s Britain)
(aka Andrea Dunbar)
…which we discussed on Thursday 15th March 2018 @ The Westbourne
(aka Thatcher’s Britain)
(aka Andrea Dunbar)
…which we discussed on Thursday 15th March 2018 @ The Westbourne
All except Hamish (AWOL) and Tristan (hanging out with parents)
Nigel heard the author, Adelle Stripe, on a podcast and was intrigued to find out more about her work and so discovered (the wonderfully titled) “Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile”
Despite Robin’s reaction to “Rita, Sue and Bob Too” (not enough smut), Nigel had very positive memories of the film, which he remembered as amusing, v English, original and unusual. He concluded that Andrea Dunbar was a rare talent, especially given her background, and was keen to find out more.
A bittersweet tale of the north/south divide, it reveals how a shy teenage girl defied the circumstances into which she was born and went on to become one of her generation's greatest dramatists. Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile is a poignant piece of kitchen sink noir that tells Dunbar's compelling story in print for the very first time.
What did the HBG make of Andrea + “Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile”?
In the main it was a resounding thumbs up for Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile (2017) by Adelle Stripe
Stitched together from letters and scripts, newspaper cuttings and fractured memory, it is an undeniably harsh, yet fair portrait of one of the UK’s most original voices.
‘Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile’ would be an engrossing book if it were simply a portrait of Andrea’s life on the Buttershaw estate in Bradford. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the book is set, Buttershaw was a deprived council on the edge of Bradford. Most people there seem to have few opportunities to escape the place.
What elevates ‘Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile’ is the incredible story of Andrea Dunbar, who got ‘The Arbor’, her first play, premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre in 1980.
Andrea was ill equipped for this meteoric rise from obscurity. The book perfectly chronicles her discomfort at being thrust into the middle class theatrical world of London. People on the Buttershaw estate treated her differently, and Andrea also felt under pressure to deliver more plays. Her disappointment with the cinematic adaptation of ‘Rita, Sue and Bob Too’, and the reaction of many of her neighbours, also seems to have had a detrimental effect. Her success almost certainly contributed to her early death as she spent more and more time seeking escape in alcohol.
Improbably Adelle Stripe has managed to make a page-turner out of this material, and that is a credit to both her writing skill, and also to the extraordinary Andrea Dunbar. All the dialogue rings true and the glimpses into Andrea’s thoughts and feelings are also completely credible. It’s a brilliant, concise (230 pages), darkly humorous, tragic, fascinating book which brings a talented, troubled, shy young woman to life whilst also unerringly evoking 1980s Britain. Wonderful.
‘Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile’ would be an engrossing book if it were simply a portrait of Andrea’s life on the Buttershaw estate in Bradford. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the book is set, Buttershaw was a deprived council on the edge of Bradford. Most people there seem to have few opportunities to escape the place.
What elevates ‘Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile’ is the incredible story of Andrea Dunbar, who got ‘The Arbor’, her first play, premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre in 1980.
Andrea was ill equipped for this meteoric rise from obscurity. The book perfectly chronicles her discomfort at being thrust into the middle class theatrical world of London. People on the Buttershaw estate treated her differently, and Andrea also felt under pressure to deliver more plays. Her disappointment with the cinematic adaptation of ‘Rita, Sue and Bob Too’, and the reaction of many of her neighbours, also seems to have had a detrimental effect. Her success almost certainly contributed to her early death as she spent more and more time seeking escape in alcohol.
Improbably Adelle Stripe has managed to make a page-turner out of this material, and that is a credit to both her writing skill, and also to the extraordinary Andrea Dunbar. All the dialogue rings true and the glimpses into Andrea’s thoughts and feelings are also completely credible. It’s a brilliant, concise (230 pages), darkly humorous, tragic, fascinating book which brings a talented, troubled, shy young woman to life whilst also unerringly evoking 1980s Britain. Wonderful.
Nigel 9/10
Nick 9/10
Robin 8/10
Roland 8.5/10
Keith 6/10
Tristan 6.5/10
Hamish - did not read
Music: Thatcher’s Britain playlist
Thatcher’s Britain playlist tracks
The Beat - Stand Down Margaret
Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)
XTC - Making Plans For Nigel
The Flying Lizards - Money
Heaven 17 - (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
The Redskins - Bring it Down!
Wham! - Wham Rap!
The Jam - Town Called Malice
The Clash - Clampdown
The Pop Group - She is Beyond Good and Evil
The The - Heartland
UB40 - One In Ten
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Five Nights Of Bleeding
The Specials - Ghost Town
Billy Bragg - Which Side Are You On?
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
The Beat - Stand Down Margaret
Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)
XTC - Making Plans For Nigel
The Flying Lizards - Money
Heaven 17 - (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
The Redskins - Bring it Down!
Wham! - Wham Rap!
The Jam - Town Called Malice
The Clash - Clampdown
The Pop Group - She is Beyond Good and Evil
The The - Heartland
UB40 - One In Ten
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Five Nights Of Bleeding
The Specials - Ghost Town
Billy Bragg - Which Side Are You On?
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
Keith felt these songs were not sufficiently Thatcherite, or anti-Thatcherite. Most found plenty to love.
Film: The Arbor (2010) dir by Clio Barnard
Blown away. We were. Gritty. Grim. Cinematic. Powerful
Wow. Phew etc
Dunbar came from that part of Bradford's tough Buttershaw estate known as "the Arbor". Barnard has interviewed Dunbar's family, friends and grownup children and then got actors to lip-synch to the resulting audio soundtrack, talking about their memories. Passages of Dunbar's autobiographical plays are acted out in the open spaces of the very estates where she grew up, surrounded by the residents looking on. The effect is eerie and compelling: it merges the texture of fact and fiction. Her technique produces a hyperreal intensification of the pain in Dunbar's work and in her life, and the tragic story of how this pain was replicated, almost genetically, in the life of her daughter Lorraine, who suffered parental neglect as a child and domestic violence and racism in adult life, taking refuge in drugs in almost the same way that Andrea took refuge in alcohol. The story of Lorraine's own child is almost unbearably sad, and the experience of this child's temporary foster-parents – who were fatefully persuaded to release the child back into Lorraine's care – is very moving.
Endorse It
What we’re endorsing at the moment….
BOOK: Restoration (1989) by Rose Tremain
MUSIC: The Orielles - Silver Dollar Moment (2018) (Heavenly Records)
TV: This Country (BBC 3 Comedy) - iPlayer
TV: Man Like Mobeen (BBC 3 Comedy) - iPlayer
TV: Damned (Channel 4 Comedy) - All4
PODCAST: The A to Z of David Bowie
MUSIC: The Orielles - Silver Dollar Moment (2018) (Heavenly Records)
TV: This Country (BBC 3 Comedy) - iPlayer
TV: Man Like Mobeen (BBC 3 Comedy) - iPlayer
TV: Damned (Channel 4 Comedy) - All4
PODCAST: The A to Z of David Bowie
YOUTUBE VID: Mark Lemar and Bernard Manning
MUSIC: Franz Ferdinand live at the Brighton Dome 2018
BOOK: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
TV: Derry Girls (Channel 4 Comedy) - All4
TV: Mum (BBC 3 Comedy) - iPlayer
TV: Mum (BBC 3 Comedy) - iPlayer
MUSIC: King of the South Seas (folk band)
FILM: I, Tonya
Next time….
BOOK: The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
MUSIC: A Certain Ratio - ‘I’d Like To See You Again’
FILM: Princess Cyd (Netflix)
