The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge
4 Extra Debut. It’s the day of the factory outing. Maxine Peake and Diane Morgan introduce and star in an adaptation of the darkly comic novel.
Maxine Peake and Diane Morgan met auditioning at drama school, where they fell in love with Beryl Bainbridge's darkly comic 1974 novel The Bottle Factory Outing, shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
They’ve wanted to play Freda and Brenda, the hapless yet hilarious central characters, ever since. Freda and Brenda are two young women, living in a cramped North London bedsit, working in a wine-bottling factory.
And so here they are, performing it at the BBC Radio Theatre, where they start by introducing it to the audience and talking about their love for the book and what makes it so good.
With Sue Johnston as the narrator of the book, and Jonathan Keeble as all the male characters.
Abridged by Abigail Youngman.
Freda …. Maxine Peake
Brenda …. Diane Morgan
Narrator …. Sue Johnston
Butcher/ Rossi/ Patrick/ Vittorio/ Brenda’s Dad…. Jonathan Keeble
Producer: Beth O'Dea
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2019.
On radio
Broadcasts
Sat 26 Jan 201914:30BBC Radio 4- Mon 11 May 202615:00BBC Radio 4 Extra
- Mon 11 May 202621:00BBC Radio 4 Extra
- Tue 12 May 202605:00BBC Radio 4 Extra
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