Rikki Beadle-Blair

MBE
Rikki Beadle-Blair, 2007
Born1961 (age 62–63)
Camberwell, London, England
Occupation(s)Actor, film director, writer
ParentMonica Beadle
RelativesGary Beadle (brother)

Richard Barrington "Rikki" Beadle-Blair MBE (born July 1961) is a British actor, director, and playwright.[1] He is the artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica.[1]

Early life

Beadle-Blair was born in Camberwell and raised in Bermondsey, both in south London, by a single mother, Monica.[1] Rikki was brought up with a brother, Gary Beadle (also an actor, of Eastenders fame),[1], and a sister.[1] He attended Lois Acton's Experimental Bermondsey Lampost Free School[1] and, later, Old Vic Youth Theatre.[1]

Career

Beadle-Blair wrote the screenplay for the 1995 feature film Stonewall (dir. Nigel Finch, 1995).[2] He adapted his own screenplay of Stonewall for the stage and his production company Team Angelica, which he took to the 2007 Edinburgh Festival. He also directed, produced, designed both sets & costumes, & choreographed on the show. The play was nominated for "Best Ensemble" at The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence.[3]

In Autumn 2007, FIT, a play for young people commissioned by the Manchester-based arts organisation queerupnorth and the gay equality organisation Stonewall, went on tour around the UK. The play was developed to help tackle homophobic bullying in Britain's schools.[4] Beadle-Blair subsequently adapted it into a film (2010).

Beadle-Blair was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to drama.[5]

Selected plays

  • Kick-Off – January 2009, Riverside Studios
  • Fit (Autumn 2008) adapted for film in 2010[6][7]
  • Home – Tristan Bates Theatre (June 2008)
  • Touch – Tristan Bates Theatre (June 2008)
  • Screwface – Tristan Bates Theatre (June 2008).
  • Familyman – Theatre Royal Stratford East (May 2008, directed by Dawn Reid). Text published by Oberon Books.
  • FIT (2007) – National Tour – adapted for film
  • Stonewall (2006/7) – stage adaptation of the BBC film.
  • Taken In (2005) – Set in a halfway house for homeless youths.
  • Bashment (2005) – explores the controversy around dancehall reggae music and the consequences of homophobic lyrics – Theatre Royal Stratford East. Text published by Oberon Books.
  • Totally Practically Naked in My Room on a Wednesday Night (2005) – a night in the life of 17-year-old Dylan, desperate to lose his virginity.
  • South London Passion Plays trilogy (Gutted,[8] Laters and Sweet) (2004) – Tristan Bates Theatre
  • Captivated (1997) – the story of a gay black man imprisoned for murder. Shane corresponds with an Asian pen pal who writes him as an act of charity. Shane's self-hatred turns into a soul-searching journey from cockiness to agonised self-reflection, and finally ultimate gratitude for his unseen friend.
  • Ask and Tell – homosexuality and the Army.
  • twothousandandSex – an ensemble play about sex and sexuality featuring 35 actors – at the Drill Hall Theatre.

Four one-hour ensemble plays

  • Exposures
  • Street Art
  • The Grope Box
  • Fucking Charlie
  • Below the Radar – a straight guy/gay guy pair of roommates and their sexual misadventures in New Orleans.
  • Human – two terminally ill cancer patients get together for a final riotous love affair.
  • Prettyboy – described as a 'Dogma Style Musical" at the Oval House Theatre.
  • Gunplay (he did not direct)
  • Wild at Heart Riverside Studios (1988)

Radio/Audio

Roots of Homophobia (writer/presenter, Radio 4, 2001) an exploration of Jamaican homophobia.[9] It won a 2002 Sony Best Feature Award.[10]

Whoopsie (writer; directed by Turan Ali for Bona Broadcasting/Radio 4, 2021) - gay comedy-drama, 28 mins.[11]

Scooters, Shooters & Shottas: a Curious Tale (director, written by John R Gordon, a Team Angelica/The Art Machine co-production, 2022) - a 40 minute podcast drama of raucous Black queer lives in 'the endz' of South London.[12]

Team Angelica

In 2011 with long term creative partner John R. Gordon, Beadle-Blair founded Team Angelica Publishing, a queer-of-colour-centric press. Their first book was Beadle-Blair's inspirational What I Learned Today. They have since published gay Somali Diriye Osman's groundbreaking short story collection, Fairytales For Lost Children, which won the Polari prize in 2014[13], and Gordon's Drapetomania, favourably reviewed in the Financial Times[14], which won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Best LGBTQ Fiction in 2019.[15] Most recently they published Larry Duplechan's memoir through his love of film, Movies That Made Me Gay (2024).[16]

Publications

  • Bashment (playtext) Oberon Books 2005 ISBN-13: 978-1840025828
  • Family Man (playtext) Oberon Books 2008 ISBN-13: ‎978-1840028584
  • Fit (playtext) Oberon Books 2010 ISBN-13: 978-1849430807
  • What I Learned Today (inspirational) Team Angelica Publishing 2011 ISBN-13: ‎978-0956971906
  • Shalom, Baby (playtext) Oberon Books 2011 ISBN-13: ‎978-1849432139
  • Reasons to Live (inspirational) Team Angelica Publishing 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0956971920
  • Gutted (playtext) Oberon 2013 ISBN-13: ‎978-1783190164
  • Black & Gay in the UK (co-editor) Team Angelica Publishing 2014 ISBN-13: ‎978-0956971968
  • More Than (co-editor) Team Angelica Publishing 2016 ISBN-13: ‎978-0956971999
  • Summer in London (playtext) Team Angelica Publishing 2017 ISBN-13: ‎978-0995516229
  • Sista! (co-editor) Team Angelica Publishing 2018 ISBN-13: ‎978-0995516243
  • Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children (anthology: contributor) Headline 2019 ISBN-13: ‎978-1472261908
  • Oberon Book of Modern Monologues for Women: Teens to Thirties (anthology: contributor) Oberon 2022 ISBN-13: ‎978-1350321847
  • Black British Queer Plays and Practitioners: An Anthology of Afriquia Theatre (anthology: contributor) Methuen 2022 ISBN-13: ‎978-1350234567

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Okundaye, Jason (20 May 2021). "Rikki Beadle-Blair: the brilliant stage and screen writer who should be a household name". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "Screen Two: Stonewall". BBC. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  3. ↑ "The Stage / Edinburgh 2009". The Stage. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  4. ↑ Article on QueerUpNorth.com, 2008 archive version.
  5. ↑ "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B16.
  6. ↑ Peter Bradshaw (4 November 2010). "Fit – review | Film". The Guardian.
  7. ↑ Nott, George (27 October 2011). ""It represents my biggest stretch" – Rikki Beadle-Blair on his new play, Shalom Baby (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)". Guardian-series.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Lyn Gardner (7 May 2013). "Gutted – review | Stage". The Guardian.
  9. ↑ Usborne, David (19 August 2001). "BBC plays 'burn gays' reggae hit". The Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Sony Awards 2002 - the winners". BBC. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "Whoopsie". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "Platforming the untold stories of black queer lives in London, New audio drama Scooters, Shooters and Shottas: a Curious tale announced". Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  13. ↑ "Somali author Diriye Osman wins Polari Prize". BBC News. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "Drapetomania by John R Gordon — north star rising". Financial Times. 1 June 2018.
  15. ↑ "The Ferro-Grumley Awards". Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "Team Angelica Publishing signs Duplechan's Movies That Made Me Gay". 8 June 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.