- Andrea Dunbar
Andrea Dunbar (1961-1990) was a British playwright best known for "
Rita, Sue and Bob Too ", an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of teenage girls living in a run-down part ofBradford, England .Shelagh Delaney described Dunbar as "a genius straight from the slums". [ [http://www.allenandunwin.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?ISBN=9780413757005 Allan and Unwin] ]Dunbar began her first play "
The Arbour " in 1977 at the age of 15, writing it as a classroom assignment. Encouraged by her teacher she was helped to develop the play to performance standard. [ [http://www.ipv.pt/forumedia/5/11.htm Katherine Anne Limmer, Investigating the Authority of the Literary Text in Critical Debate] ] It was premiered in 1980 at London'sRoyal Court Theatre , directed byMax Stafford-Clark . It won the Young Writers' Festival, and was later extended and performed in New York. [ [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9907E3D71138F932A1575AC0A965948260 review by Frank Rich in the New York Times, 1983] ] The play described the experiences of a pregnant teenager with an abusive drunken father.Dunbar was quickly commissioned to write a follow-up work, creating "Rita, Sue and Bob Too", first performed in 1982. The play explored similar themes to "The Arbour", in this case depicting the lives of two teenage girls who are both having an affair with the same married man. Dunbar's third play, "Shirley" (1986), placed greater emphasis on the central character.
"Rita, Sue and Bob Too" was adapted for the cinema and was filmed in 1986 by
Alan Clarke . The film created considerable controversy on the Buttershaw estate, where Dunbar lived, because of its negative portrayal of the area. She was threatened by several residents. Nevertheless, Dunbar stayed on the estate. A single mother with three children by different men, she became an increasingly heavy drinker. In 1990 she died of abrain haemorrhage at the age of 29.In 2000 Dunbar's life and her surroundings were revisited in the play "A State Affair" by Robin Soans.
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