Lee Hall (playwright)

Lee Hall (born 1966 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is an English playwright and screenwriter.

Career

Hall's most commercially successful work is "Billy Elliot", the story of a young boy in the north of England who, in the face of opposition from his family and community, aspires to be and ultimately becomes a ballet dancer. Initially a film (1999) directed by Stephen Daldry for which Hall wrote the screenplay, and for which he received an Oscar nomination, "Billy Elliot" was later turned into a stage musical. With music by Elton John and book and lyrics by Hall, the musical is enjoying a long run in the West End. The inspiration for the screenplay was drawn, in part, from A.J. Cronin's novel, "The Stars Look Down", which is also set in an English coal mining community during a strike, and similarly tells the story of a miner's son who goes against the grain. [cite web | url =http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/s2.cfm?id=1432002 | title = "Scotsman" interview (2002)]

Also successful in its own genre was "Spoonface Steinberg", the tale of a young autistic Jewish girl who is dying of cancer. This monologue aroused unprecedented listener response when it was broadcast in 1997 on BBC radio and was subsequently voted one of the ten best radio dramas of all time by readers of the magazine "Radio Times". It was also adapted for television, and a stage version, with a 42-year-old actress Kathryn Hunter playing the title role, opened in 1999 and later transferred to the West End.

Hall had more limited success with his comedy "Cooking with Elvis", whose protagonist is an Elvis Presley impersonator paralyzed in a car crash. Also originally a radio play (1995), a stage version opened in 1999, later being presented on the West End stage.

Hall's fondness for moving from one medium to another can be seen in his work "I Love You Jimmy Spud". This too began as a radio play (1995), later being adapted by Hall into a stage play and a film script.

He has also translated plays, notably by Carlo Goldoni ("A Servant of Two Masters") and Bertolt Brecht ("Mother Courage and Her Children") and co-wrote the screenplay for a film version of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (2005).

His most recent TV work was an adaptation of "The Wind in the Willows", broadcast in December 2006. His next script to go into production is the film "Hippie Hippie Shake", based on the memoir "Hippie Hippie Shake: The Dreams, the Trips, the Trials, the Love-ins, the Screw Ups: The Sixties" by Richard Neville.

His most recent play, "The Pitmen Painters", derived from a book by the art critic William Feaver, opened the refurbished Live Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2008. It tells of Ashington (Northumberland) miners who decide to learn about art and go on to paint pictures. The production later transferred to the National Theatre in London.

Background

Hall, who is from Newcastle upon Tyne, is married to film director Beeban Kidron, who will direct "Hippie Hippie Shake".

elect plays

*"Billy Elliot the Musical"
*"Spoonface Steinberg"
*"Wittgenstein on Tyne"
*"Cooking with Elvis"
*"Bollocks"
*"I Luv You Jimmy Spud"
*"Roger Waters' "The Wall""

References

External links

* [http://www.billyelliotfans.com/ Billy Elliot the Musical Fansite]
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