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Our Lady of Blundellsands
It's no secret that Sylvie is unravelling. Frozen in time in her Blundellsands house, she inhabits a fantasy world that never was. Garnet, her sister, is older and wiser – and wearier, with her shopping lists and tired love. She's always fanned the flames of Sylvie's fantasies. Because if she didn't… who knows where they'd both end up?
But now the whole family's up in Liverpool for a birthday, and Garnet's got a secret of her own to pass on. There'll be a party… but it's not going to be pretty.
Welcome to a family more messed up than your own.
But now the whole family's up in Liverpool for a birthday, and Garnet's got a secret of her own to pass on. There'll be a party… but it's not going to be pretty.
Welcome to a family more messed up than your own.
- GenresPlays
104 pages, Paperback
Published March 27, 2020
11 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Harvey
78 books78 followersHarvey was born in Liverpool in 1968. He has a brother, Timothy Harvey who is a music teacher in Chester. His first serious attempt as a playwright was in 1987. Fuelled by the attraction of a £1,000 first prize to young writers from the Liverpool Playhouse, the result was The Cherry Blossom Tree, a garish blend of suicide, murder and nuns. This effort won him the National Girobank Young Writer of the Year Award.
Feeling very encouraged, he went on to write Mohair (1988), Wildfire (1992) and Babies (1993), the latter winning him the 'George Devine Award' for that year and The Evening Standard's 'Most Promising Playwright Award' for 1994. In 1993, Harvey, premiered Beautiful Thing, a gay-themed play-turned-movie for which he won the prestigious 'John Whiting Award' the following year.
1995 saw the premiere of Boom Bang-a-Bang, at the Bush Theatre, London, originally directed by Kathy Burke. Harvey cites it as "my most comic play ever, but with some dark bits". Centred on a group of friends gathering to watch the Eurovision Song Contest, the play was a sell-out. That same year, he also premiered Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club. Guiding Star (1998), is a portrayal of one man's struggle to come to terms with the Hillsborough FA Cup Semi-Final disaster, while Hushabye Mountain (1999) deals with a world that has learned to live with HIV/AIDS. Television and film works include: West End Girls (Carlton); Love Junkie (BBC); Beautiful Thing (Channel Four/Island World Productions); the 1999-2001 hit/cult comedy series starring Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus, Gimme Gimme Gimme (Tiger Aspect); Murder Most Horrid (BBC); and Coronation Street (ITV).
He also wrote the book for Closer to Heaven, a stage musical with songs and music written by Pet Shop Boys. Closer to Heaven ran for nine months at the Arts Theatre in London during 2001 and in Australia in 2005. In 2003 Harvey heard the singer-actress Abi Roberts perform and was so enchanted he offered to write a solo show especially for her. Taking Charlie was the outcome, staged at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival with Roberts starring, under the direction of Susan Tully. The piece was darkly comic and focused on the destructive nature of an insecure, 30-year-old addict.
Harvey is a patron of London-based HIV charity The Food Chain and a patron of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. His first novel All She Wants was published in 2012 by Pan Books
Feeling very encouraged, he went on to write Mohair (1988), Wildfire (1992) and Babies (1993), the latter winning him the 'George Devine Award' for that year and The Evening Standard's 'Most Promising Playwright Award' for 1994. In 1993, Harvey, premiered Beautiful Thing, a gay-themed play-turned-movie for which he won the prestigious 'John Whiting Award' the following year.
1995 saw the premiere of Boom Bang-a-Bang, at the Bush Theatre, London, originally directed by Kathy Burke. Harvey cites it as "my most comic play ever, but with some dark bits". Centred on a group of friends gathering to watch the Eurovision Song Contest, the play was a sell-out. That same year, he also premiered Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club. Guiding Star (1998), is a portrayal of one man's struggle to come to terms with the Hillsborough FA Cup Semi-Final disaster, while Hushabye Mountain (1999) deals with a world that has learned to live with HIV/AIDS. Television and film works include: West End Girls (Carlton); Love Junkie (BBC); Beautiful Thing (Channel Four/Island World Productions); the 1999-2001 hit/cult comedy series starring Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus, Gimme Gimme Gimme (Tiger Aspect); Murder Most Horrid (BBC); and Coronation Street (ITV).
He also wrote the book for Closer to Heaven, a stage musical with songs and music written by Pet Shop Boys. Closer to Heaven ran for nine months at the Arts Theatre in London during 2001 and in Australia in 2005. In 2003 Harvey heard the singer-actress Abi Roberts perform and was so enchanted he offered to write a solo show especially for her. Taking Charlie was the outcome, staged at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival with Roberts starring, under the direction of Susan Tully. The piece was darkly comic and focused on the destructive nature of an insecure, 30-year-old addict.
Harvey is a patron of London-based HIV charity The Food Chain and a patron of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. His first novel All She Wants was published in 2012 by Pan Books
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2021
As with everyone else, Harvey first came to my attention with his early play Beautiful Thing, which was an enormous success on stage and even so more in the film adaptation. Although I kept track of his subsequent plays, nothing quite seemed to work, and he segued into working in television and writing novels. This return to the play format seemed poised to return him to stage success - but was one of the last new plays staged in the UK before theatres shut down due to the pandemic - rotten timing!
Be that as it may, it's a quite lively mix of drama and comedy - The Guardian quipped it was like 'Ibsen Dialed up to 11', and that's a fairly accurate description. Although the plethora of family secrets seem to spill out a bit too freely during the second act, all six characters are meaty roles that I am sure were played to perfection in the hands of such accomplished actors as Josie Lawrence and Matt Henry, in the original cast.
Be that as it may, it's a quite lively mix of drama and comedy - The Guardian quipped it was like 'Ibsen Dialed up to 11', and that's a fairly accurate description. Although the plethora of family secrets seem to spill out a bit too freely during the second act, all six characters are meaty roles that I am sure were played to perfection in the hands of such accomplished actors as Josie Lawrence and Matt Henry, in the original cast.
May 6, 2021
Blundellsands, Liverpool, 2020. A family gather to celebrate a birthday, although this isn't a normal birthday, and as the family meet-up, some sordid secrets are about to spill out into the open.
Within 32 pages of this latest play by award winner playwright/writer, Jonathan Harvey, I had laughed out loud and fallen in love with this rat tag band of colourful characters. A play that's based around the eccentricity of nonagenarian, Sylvie, 'Our Lady of Blundellsands' church window acts as a conduit in telling this highly amusing, slightly farcical and in fact, all too familiar story. It's as though the reader can look through that colourful church window and see a story unfold that is rather dark, anything but godly, and ridiculously funny
Containing all the hallmarks of a Jonathan Harvey classic, this was a joy to read and one I would love to see on the stage at the Liverpool Everyman when it returns later this year. Our Lady of Blundellsands
Within 32 pages of this latest play by award winner playwright/writer, Jonathan Harvey, I had laughed out loud and fallen in love with this rat tag band of colourful characters. A play that's based around the eccentricity of nonagenarian, Sylvie, 'Our Lady of Blundellsands' church window acts as a conduit in telling this highly amusing, slightly farcical and in fact, all too familiar story. It's as though the reader can look through that colourful church window and see a story unfold that is rather dark, anything but godly, and ridiculously funny
Containing all the hallmarks of a Jonathan Harvey classic, this was a joy to read and one I would love to see on the stage at the Liverpool Everyman when it returns later this year. Our Lady of Blundellsands
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews