Beryl (Modern Plays)

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I could relate to Beryl, I’m no where near as dedicated to my profession as Beryl was to cycling but as a woman, I could relate to how much more you have to train at something and how difficult it is for a woman because of all the other commitments in life, it’s doubly hard. And the criticism you can get for being that focused and single-minded about something.” I was so frightened of joining at the start. I thought it would just be loads of skinny young men in lycra going at 100 miles an hour, flinging themselves up hills and I’m just going to have no chance and feel really self-conscious. Drama is intertwined with contributions from Charlie Burton, now in his 80s, and their cycling champion daughter, Denise Burton Cole. Their perspective provides an intimate, funny and moving portrayal of Beryl, recorded on bikes in various locations around Saddleworth and in Harrogate.

It's a blast ... A really good yarn and four wildly talented actors. What's not to like?” – Camden New Journal Maxine Peake – My lovely Lancashire home". Lancashire Life. 4 January 2012 . Retrieved 13 October 2012. When I was much younger I used to be a member of the Communist Party although nowadays I don't really have a political affiliation to any party.When Maxine Peake was given Beryl's autobiography as a gift she questioned why no one had ever written a play about her, and so she wrote it herself. Her debut stage play, Beryl began as a radio play, Beryl: A Love Story on Two Wheels, in which Maxine also starred. It was adapted for the stage in 2014, premiering at Leeds Playhouse coinciding with the start of the Tour de France in Yorkshire.

Beryl Burton is quite possibly the most successful woman you’ve never heard of. She dominated cycling in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, becoming world pursuit champion, national pursuit champion, road racing world champion, national road racing champion, British record holder, world record holder, an MBE and an OBE. What’s even more remarkable is that Beryl had a heart condition and early in her life doctors had advised that she could never take part in strenuous activities.

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Peake wrote, directed and starred in the play Beryl: A Love Story On Two Wheels about the life of the Leeds-born cyclist Beryl Burton, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012. [15] [16] In 2014, Peake adapted her play for the stage. Entitled simply Beryl, it was commissioned by the West Yorkshire Playhouse, where it ran in June and July 2014 to coincide with the start of the Tour de France in Leeds. [17] The play returned in June and July 2015 and toured across England in Autumn 2015. [18] Peake wrote a later play called Queens of the Coal Age again for Radio 4 that told the story of Anne Scargill and three other women who tried to occupy a coal mine in 1993. [19] Maxine Peake's run as Hamlet at Royal Exchange extended by a week", Manchester Evening News, 1 September 2014. Elizabeth Twells's credits include The Importance of Being Ernest for Octagon Theatre Bolton, Death of a Salesman and My White Best Friend for Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester and Holes for Nottingham Playhouse.