Shirley Gee

Shirley Gee (b. 25 April 1932, London, England) is a British playwright.

Life

She married actor Donald Gee on 30 January 1965; They have two sons; Joby (born in 1966) and Daniel (1968) and six grandchildren (in age order); Barney, Elliot, Harvey, Maisy, Ethan and Hal. She lived in Chelsea from 1965 to 2009. She now lives in Putney, London with her husband.

Awards

Never In My Lifetime won the Samuel Beckett Award, 1985 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the 1983 BBC Giles Cooper Award.

She also won the 1979 BBC Giles Cooper Award, for Typhoid Mary.

Works

Plays

• Ask For The Moon. Faber and Faber. 1987. ISBN 978-0-571-13875-3., 1986
• Never In My Lifetime. Samuel French, Inc. 1993. ISBN 978-0-573-69475-2. 1984^[1]
• Typhoid Mary, 1983
• Warrior. Samuel French Ltd. 1991. ISBN 978-0-573-01931-9. 1989^[2]

Anthologies

• Best Radio Plays of 1979 (Modern Plays). Methuen. 1980. ISBN 978-0-413-47130-7.
• Wally K. Daly, ed. (1984). Best Radio Plays of 1983 (Modern Plays). Methuen. ISBN 978-0-413-55220-4.

Radio Plays

• Stones, 1974;
• The Vet's Daughter, adapted from the novel by Barbara Comyns, 1976;
• Moonshine, 1977;
• Typhoid Mary, 1979;^[3][4]
• Bedrock, 1979;
• Men on White Horses, adapted from the novel by Pamela Haines,1981;
• Our Regiment, a documentary, 1982;
• Never in My Lifetime, 1983;
• Against the Wind, 1988, based on the life of Hannah Snell.

Teleplays

• Long Live the Babe, 1984,
• Flights, 1985.

Reviews

The continuing brutality of the conflict between the English and the Irish is captured with empathetic awareness in Shirley Gee's Never in My Lifetime. The play, winner of the 1984 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, is having its American premiere here by the Hartman Theater Company. As expected, there are no villains or martyrs in this war-torn stretch of Northern Ireland. Everyone becomes his brother's enemy.... Ms. Gee's work is distinguished by a certain naturalness and lyricism. We believe in the attachment between this young couple and we hope - without encouragement - that their life might be different, even as the two of them are manipulated by loyalties of family, friendship and country.^[5]

References

1. http://www.chancetheater.com/season_2006/2b_never/#top
2. Josh Perttunen (2007-11-15). "Warrior Culture". The North Wind.
3. Judith Walzer Leavitt (1997). Typhoid Mary. Beacon Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-8070-2103-3.
4. Vincent McInerney (2001). Writing for radio. Manchester University Press. pp. 114–115. ISBN 978-0-7190-5843-1.
5. MEL GUSSOW (February 20, 1987). "THE STAGE: 'NEVER IN MY LIFETIME'". The New York Times.

External links

• Shirley Gee, doollee
• Shirley Gee Radio Plays