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Rikki Beadle-Blair

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Rikki Beadle-Blair
Rikki Beadle-Blair, 2007
Born25 July 1961 age 63
Occupation(s)Actor, film director, writer
ParentMonica Beadle
RelativesGary Beadle (brother)

Richard Barrington "Rikki" Beadle-Blair MBE (born 25 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

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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

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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).[5]

Beadle-Blair was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to drama.[6]

Selected plays

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  • Kick-Off – January 2009, Riverside Studios
  • Fit (Autumn 2008) adapted for film in 2010[7][8]
  • 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,[9] 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

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Roots of Homophobia (writer/presenter, Radio 4, 2001) an exploration of Jamaican homophobia.[10] It won a 2002 Sony Best Feature Award.[11]

Whoopsie (writer; directed by Turan Ali for Bona Broadcasting/Radio 4, 2021) - gay comedy-drama, 28 mins.[12]

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.[13]

Team Angelica

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In 2011 with long term creative partner John R. Gordon, Beadle-Blair founded Team Angelica Publishing, a queer-of-colour-centric press.[citation needed] Their first book was Beadle-Blair's inspirational What I Learned Today.[citation needed] They have since published gay Somali Diriye Osman's groundbreaking short story collection, Fairytales For Lost Children, which won the Polari prize in 2014,[14] and Gordon's Drapetomania, favourably reviewed in the Financial Times,[15] which won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Best LGBTQ Fiction in 2019.[16] Most recently they published Larry Duplechan's memoir through his love of film, Movies That Made Me Gay (2024).[17]

Publications

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Walters, Ben (2 November 2010). "Fit". Time Out Worldwide. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  6. ^ "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B16.
  7. ^ Peter Bradshaw (4 November 2010). "Fit – review | Film". The Guardian.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Lyn Gardner (7 May 2013). "Gutted – review | Stage". The Guardian.
  10. ^ Usborne, David (19 August 2001). "BBC plays 'burn gays' reggae hit". The Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  11. ^ "Sony Awards 2002 - the winners". BBC. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Whoopsie". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Platforming the untold stories of black queer lives in London, New audio drama Scooters, Shooters and Shottas: a Curious tale announced". 29 March 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Somali author Diriye Osman wins Polari Prize". BBC News. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Drapetomania by John R Gordon — north star rising". Financial Times. 1 June 2018.
  16. ^ "The Ferro-Grumley Awards". Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Team Angelica Publishing signs Duplechan's Movies That Made Me Gay". 8 June 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
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