The Essay: Women of Substance

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The Essay: Women of Substance: Andrea Dunbar

Andrea Dunbar

Women of Substance

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Women of Substance, Andrea Dunbar

At 18 Andrea Dunbar was the youngest playwright ever at the Royal Court Theatre, London.

Andrea Dunbar wrote plays about life on Bradford’s Buttershaw Estate, The Arbor was staged when she was just 18. But a bright legacy was blighted by cross-generational addiction.

Professor Sally Marlow, an addiction specialist, received a scholarship at 16, moving from Teesside to Somerset for a new life. In 1980, Andrea Dunbar, aged 18, made a life-changing trip from Bradford to London's Royal Court Theatre, where her play "The Arbor" premiered, making her the venue's youngest playwright, despite never having been in a theatre before.

Unlike Sally, Andrea returned to Bradford after the play's run, living on Buttershaw Estate with her daughter before moving to a battered wives home in Keighley. There, she completed her play started at 15, written in dialect, expressing a commitment to authenticity.

Sally is intrigued by Andrea's life and class differences. Both Andrea and Sally battled addiction in the 1980s, but while Sally quit drinking around the time Andrea passed away, the impact of women's drinking persists. Alcohol remains a significant cause of mortality among women in their 50s, particularly among white women in deprived communities.

In a recording at the Royal Court Theatre, Sally explores Andrea's scripts to comprehend her alcohol use, which subtly permeates her plays without direct commentary. Andrea authored two more plays, one of which, "Rita Sue and Bob Too," was adapted into a film that underwent significant alterations against her original intentions. Andrea's life beyond writing became increasingly challenging; she had more children and struggled to continue writing. Tragically, she died of a brain hemorrhage at 29, and her eldest daughter also battled addiction after her mother's passing. Andrea Dunbar, like other artists in this series, remains enigmatic, her life marked by struggle despite her evident talent showcased in her brilliant yet darkly comic plays. Her poverty not only curtailed her writing prematurely but exacerbated her drinking and possibly contributed to her early death.

Presented by Professor Sally Marlow
Produced by Geraldine Fitzgerald
A TellTale Industries Ltd production

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Sally Marlow asks what five women artists can tell us about addiction through their art.

Professor Sally Marlow looks at the work of five women artists and asks what their work can tell us about their addictions and the nature of addiction.

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