“I am a lazy c*nt and will only write when the gun is against my head.”
Adelle Stripe
Adelle Stripe’s debut novel Black Teeth and A Brilliant Smile, is a dagger to the heart read, best devoured in one sitting. Inspired by the life and work of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar who tragically died at the age of twenty-nine. Dunbar is best known for her classic black comedy Rita, Sue and Bob Too! Once described as a “genius, straight from the slums,” Dunbar’s writing portrayed a voice so seldom heard in Thatcher’s Britain, brave, brash and truth ridden. She defied her circumstances becoming one of the greatest dramatists of her generation.
Black Teeth and A Brilliant Smile received the K Blundell Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize.
JB: What sparked your interest in Andrea Dunbar? Where did it all begin?
I was a fan of Andrea’s writing as a teenager and wanted to be a playwright. I recall watching a YTV documentary, In Praise of Bad Girls, which filmed her on the Buttershaw estate in the late 1980s, and also watched Alan Clarke’s Rita, Sue and Bob Too on Channel 4 when it was first broadcast. Although I didn’t grow up on a council estate, I recognised the characters she portrayed – it was close to home in many respects. Shelagh Delaney was another influence, so I had a crack at writing my own version, which was bloody dreadful. The dream of being a writer quickly faded as I had few qualifications and didn’t know how to get into university. I didn’t know any writers, or how I might become one, so I abandoned the idea and went to work in a petrol station. When I saw Clio Barnard’s film The Arbor in 2010 it reignited my teenage interest in her, I thought that someone must have written a book about her life. They hadn’t, I wanted to read it, so I wrote it myself.
JB: Talk me through the development of the book? Did you decide early on to write a novel rather than a straight biography?
It was actually a conventional biography in the early drafts of the book. I wrote everything down in chronological order and built up each chapter based on the research I accrued. I wasn’t sure how to approach her as a subject, so it was a tangle of spaghetti for a while. I tried the past/present and Sebaldian wandering approach, but the biographical sections were the strongest. It’s important to experiment and kick the words around, and I’m glad I tried out various styles. After a couple of years researching her I started to formulate the story I wanted to tell, but as so much of the material was uncertain I couldn’t nail it down as a biography. I stayed at the Gordon Burn Trust in 2013 and ransacked his library – there were many books on the non-fiction novel and New Journalism and this actually became the key to unlocking my own writing. I looked at Capote, Wolfe, Mailer, Peace and Burn’s writing to see how I might tell the story of Dunbar’s life.
It wasn’t until the end of the writing process that I really knew “how” to make her speak. I wasn’t confident that I could make her talk in a convincing way. Richard Holmes says there is a great responsibility with biographical subjects, it’s like an exhumation, “making the dead walk again.” I needed to make sure people would believe this person the page – so it made to wait until the end before really drawing out the dialogue.
Russ Litten was working as an editor at Wrecking Ball Press at the time, and he wanted to see a draft of the book. I sent it to him as he was interested in reading it. He immediately offered to publish it. Russ grew up on Bransholme and Shane Rhodes (the publisher) grew up on Orchard Park in Hull – so I knew they would understand who Andrea was and where she came from. They would treat her with respect, and that was important to me. The first edition was beautiful, a limited foil cover and quality end papers. I wanted it to be a tribute to her and was proud to give a copy to Lisa and Andrew (Andrea’s children) at the launch event.
Within a few weeks of the book coming out I had an offer to publish it from Ursula Doyle at Fleet (Little, Brown). We sold the rights and the second mass market edition was published in November 2017. It is now available on kindle and is stocked in most bookshops across the country.
JB: Your vivid descriptions of the women’s refuge in Keighley and the Buttershaw estate suggested you had taken the time to walk the same streets as Andrea? If so – what has changed and how did it feel walking in her shadow?
Yes, I did spend quite a bit of time on foot. I was lucky as I knew somebody who put me in contact with Dr Claire MacDonald, a theatre practitioner and playwright, and founder of Impact Theatre Group - Andrea worked there on a Youth Training Scheme in the early 1980s. As it happened, Claire worked at the refuge in Keighley, with Professor Jalna Hanmer. They remembered Andrea’s arrival at the refuge quite clearly, and put me in contact with Liane Aukin, who was the person who introduced Andrea to the Royal Court.
Keighley has changed in some respects – there is no longer the mass industry of the late 1970s, or the steam train, or coal fires. But the street where she first lived, near Hermit Hole, probably looks quite similar to how it was in 1979. She only lived at the refuge for a month or so, and then moved up to Littondale House on the Braithwaite estate – where she wrote Rita, Sue and Bob Too. Those flats have been demolished, but the estate hasn’t changed a great deal. It appeared in BBC Arena documentary on Andrea in 1980.
JB: How did it feel walking into The Beacon? Did you go alone? What did you order from the bar?
It was quite intimidating as it’s obviously a local estate pub, and quite a dishevelled one at that. I needed to go in there as it was so important to Andrea’s life, and of course I couldn’t write the final scene without it as her conscious life ended in the pub. I went on my own, and some of Andrea’s drinking pals were perched at the bar. They took the piss out of me straight away. But it didn’t wash as I’ve worked behind many a bar in Tadcaster – where I grew up – and can happily dish back what’s thrown at me.
Andrea’s sister, Jeanette, worked behind the bar. I ordered a Guinness and started to talk to her about what happened on the last day of Andrea’s life. I pulled out the press cuttings from my bag, and there were pictures of young Jeanette in some of the shots. She hadn’t seen them, so it was great to talk to her about that time. We looked at all of the research material that I had collected, most of which she hadn’t seen, and I copied the whole batch for her. One of the black and white pictures was of Andrea in 1980, and was taken outside the Dunbar house, at 26 Brafferton Arbor. Jeanette is the little girl peeping behind Andrea. It was used on the front cover of the book.
The pub has shut down now, so I’m glad I went. I think it’s being turned into a children’s centre.
JB: Did you discover anything new about Andrea on the way? Anything surprising?
Yes, I found out quite a bit about her that I didn’t know. Not all of it was included. But the best stuff came after the book had been published. People started contacting me and telling me about their memories of her. One recalled that her boyfriend Jim wore a wig. I didn’t even know that – I would have included it. Apparently he wore a toupée and when they fought she used to pull it off and throw it across the room. She could start a fight in a graveyard if she was feeling that way out. Jennifer Howarth, who co-wrote the screenplay for Rita, wrote an article about her for The Stage earlier this year. I couldn’t get hold of her but really regret that now. Jennifer recalled how the hockey stick that her father used to beat her with had a name, they called it “Jacky”. And when asked what staying at Max Stafford-Clark’s was like, she said: “Got told off for dropping ash on the carpet. Weren’t no ashtrays. Nobody’s got white carpet in Bradford.” This is all material that should have gone in the book!
JB: I really enjoyed the dialogue in the book, how did you develop Andrea’s voice?
Once the chapters were nailed down, I transcribed footage of her speaking, to try and pick up the inflections and dialect of her speech. I also met with her family and discovered more about her through their own recollections. Her sisters have a particular way of speaking (as all families do), so that helped a great deal in terms of getting the dialogue right.
JB: What is your writing routine like? Do you have one?
I am a lazy c*nt and will only write when the gun is against my head. But in the midst of it, the routine (under duress) goes something like this: up early, coffee, porridge with peanut butter, raisins and coconut, shower, two hours of typing, then lunch, a long dog walk (around 90 minutes), then more coffee, chocolate, and frantic typing until 6pm. I listen pretty much exclusively to the back catalogue of Miles Davis when writing, his music triggers a creative response – no other music has this power. I am convinced it is magical in some way. I’ve recently started listening to Alice Coltrane, as I need to wean myself off Miles for the summer. At night I watch TV, lift weights, and go wandering in the woods.
JB: Any tips for completing a project?
Having a weekly milestone is easier than worrying about the project as a whole. I’m a list-maker and set myself tasks for the week on a post-it each Monday, even if it’s just research for a character or location. Take regular breaks and allow procrastination time – it’s often in the daydreaming periods that you come up with your best ideas. Letting the mind wander is an important part of the process.
JB: Where do you go from here? What’s next?
I am writing the foreword for a new Faber edition of Gordon Burn’s Alma Cogan and have a couple of writing commissions over the summer. One is with Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle (for Amber Collective’s Idea of North exhibition), the other is for Manchester Literature Festival. When they are done and dusted I will be starting work on the next book. It is top secret I’m afraid. I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it – so watch this space.
For further information visit: https://adellestripe.com/