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National Theatre Christmas show - Ballet Shoes

Lynette H
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CCL

CCL

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58 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

The main thing I didn’t like was how they made Winnifred out to be a bit catty, when she was a sweet child and friend of theirs in the book

Yes! That also really annoyed me. In the book Nanna is very fond of Winifred. I agree with you about the actor playing Mr Simpson, I think it was Marc Warren. I always rather liked that actor.

Here’s a coincidence- I belong to a Facebook group that discusses the books of Antonia Forest, and there was a post today about…Ballet Shoes and the 1970s BBC version!

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Fiz

Fiz

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I’ve never forgotten how Winifred has to go on stage because Pauline has been behaving badly backstage. I used it to point out to our dds that they must never behave like that. I’m pleased to say that they never did and it was appreciated by the professionals that they occasionally were onstage with as they were always asked back.

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Sophoife

Sophoife

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Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, CCL said:

Here’s a coincidence- I belong to a Facebook group that discusses the books of Antonia Forest, and there was a post today about…Ballet Shoes and the 1970s BBC version!

 

I can't see 70s-era Marlows watching it! Pomona probably would, if it was transmitted during the holidays.

 

The Cricket Term is one of my favourite books. Ever.

 

 

Edited by Sophoife
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CCL

CCL

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6 hours ago, Sophoife said:

The Cricket Term is one of my favourite books. Ever

It is absolutely wonderful, isn’t it! Nice to ‘meet’ a fellow aficionado!

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Lindsay

Lindsay

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22 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

 

@DelphiumBlue is in our hood.

Apologies for crashing the party but am also a huge Antonia Forest fan and hence very excited by this thread - although Autumn term is my favourite, mainly because of the Christmas play

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Lindsay

Lindsay

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@Sophoife It's a close-run thing!  And the Nicola-Tim growing apart and then 'coming back together' to arrange the carol service in the Attic Term is so subtly done.  They are such quality novels, disguised as 'standard' school stories.

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Sophoife

Sophoife

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3 minutes ago, Lindsay said:

@Sophoife It's a close-run thing!  And the Nicola-Tim growing apart and then 'coming back together' to arrange the carol service in the Attic Term is so subtly done.  They are such quality novels, disguised as 'standard' school stories.

 

They don't really come back together, they're just grown-up enough to be able to work together. I love the whole series, home and school.

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CCL

CCL

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‘End of Term’ is my favourite school-based book and ‘The Ready-Made Family’ my favourite non-school book. How lovely to see more Forest aficionados here! 

I do apologise for having derailed the thread, by the way.

If anyone is interested, the complete 1975 BBC version of Ballet Shoes is on YouTube. 

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lollylamb1

lollylamb1

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On 22/04/2024 at 10:29, alison said:

 

Not quite sure what this is doing here :) but if they sent me that offer for a date I *could* do (tonight clashes with Melissa Hamilton at the Ballet Association) I might well be tempted to take them up on it :)

Sorry think I posted this in the wrong place!

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DelphiumBlue

DelphiumBlue

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Thank you for posting the link to that fascinating and still relevant discussion …. lots of bells ringing for me , finding out why all those BBC serials seemed so flat and of course, the empowering aspects of Ballet Shoes. Funnily enough have been discussing that theme recently with ref to other books of our childhood. 
 

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Roberta

Roberta

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I loved this one also. (Article from 2018)

 

 

"The 1941 novel – a sort of Ballet Shoes for the theatre"

The Swish of the Curtain: an anarchic children's classic rises again 

Pamela Brown’s madcap 1941 tale of stagestruck children inspired the likes of Dame Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkins to start acting. Now it’s stepping back into the limelight
 
 
And of course the 'Maddie' sequels
 
 

"Brown wrote four sequels:

  • Maddy Alone – 1945
  • Golden Pavements – 1947
  • Blue Door Venture – 1949
  • Maddy Again – 1956

Publication

Until recently The Swish of the Curtain was the only one of the "Blue Doors" series to have been republished after the 1970s. However, The Swish of the Curtain (2006), Maddy Alone (2007), Golden Pavements (2009) and Blue Door Venture (2011) have been republished by Longwater Books, and Maddy Again was finally reprinted in 2012. As this last book in the series was not published for many years, copies of it had previously become very rare and valuable, and very hard to find. Most recently, Pushkin Press have republished all the titles in the Blue Door series."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swish_of_the_Curtain

 

 

"It was begun in 1938 when the author was 14 but was not published until 1941" 

 

 
 
 
 
Edited by Roberta
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Fiz

Fiz

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5 hours ago, Roberta said:

I loved this one also. (Article from 2018)

 

 

"The 1941 novel – a sort of Ballet Shoes for the theatre"

The Swish of the Curtain: an anarchic children's classic rises again 

Pamela Brown’s madcap 1941 tale of stagestruck children inspired the likes of Dame Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkins to start acting. Now it’s stepping back into the limelight
 
 
And of course the 'Maddie' sequels
 
 

"Brown wrote four sequels:

  • Maddy Alone – 1945
  • Golden Pavements – 1947
  • Blue Door Venture – 1949
  • Maddy Again – 1956

Publication

Until recently The Swish of the Curtain was the only one of the "Blue Doors" series to have been republished after the 1970s. However, The Swish of the Curtain (2006), Maddy Alone (2007), Golden Pavements (2009) and Blue Door Venture (2011) have been republished by Longwater Books, and Maddy Again was finally reprinted in 2012. As this last book in the series was not published for many years, copies of it had previously become very rare and valuable, and very hard to find. Most recently, Pushkin Press have republished all the titles in the Blue Door series."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swish_of_the_Curtain

 

 

"It was begun in 1938 when the author was 14 but was not published until 1941" 

 

 
 
 
 

Another series that I devoured like sweets!

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Roberta

Roberta

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Wonderfully enthusiastic reviews on Amazon!

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swish-Curtain-Pamela-Brown/dp/0955242800#customerReviews

 

"If you like vintage children’s books I thought this was a charming example, good-natured, amusing and a wonderful glimpse of life in the late 30s – although the attitudes towards class are quite striking at times. It also set off a curious craving for cocoa, chips in newspaper and ‘lashings’ of tea and cake. The book’s been in and out of print since the 40s and was recently re-published by Pushkin Press, it was the first in a series and Pushkin is slowly bringing out the rest endorsed by Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith."

 
"A wonderful story of growth, accepting and using your differences, as well as your strengths and to fight for what you want in life. Just DO NOT forget to have fun while doing it."
 

I can actually still recall the moment I picked this book down from the school library shelves, and began reading. That was it, I was hooked!  I read a great deal of it (as I spent so many lessons doing with other books) on my lap under the desk as I couldn't put it down. 

 

 

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bridiem

bridiem

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14 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

I think some of the 1975 series is on YouTube. I watched some of it a few years ago and thought the child actors were pretty good 

 

They were, but Posy was not at all as I'd imagined her to be (petite, curly hair, mercurial) so I found it difficult to get past that.

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