Lee Hall Research Articles

‘Mr. Blue Sky’ in the West End: Becoming Musical in Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

This article explores the role of music in forms of ‘becoming’ in the adaptation of Alan Warner’s novel The Sopranos (1998) for the stage by Lee Hall as Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (2015). Telling the story of six choirgirls’ visit to Edinburgh for a choir competition, a musical strain in Warner’s novel ameliorates the ‘reprofuturity’ felt by the girls as a pressure leading with deathly inevitably to maternity and small-town conformity (Freeman 2007). In OLPS, the girls perform their own stories as a ‘gig’ incorporating both classical music and cover versions of the songs of popular UK band ELO, affording them opportunities to subvert oppressive gender roles, to deploy music’s erotic and affective charges, and to become musical dramaturgs of their own stories. As a musical play, the author argues, OLPS was a sonorous and affective event that staged the girls’ negotiations with normative pressures through flows of desire which were immanent, fluid and ongoing. Within theatre’s neoliberal and patriarchal economies, its performers deployed musical practices in ways that realized a sense of their own creative potential. In addition to drawing from the materialist feminism of Rosi Braidotti (2002) for its working definition of ‘becoming’, the article uses approaches from feminist and queer musicologists (McClary 1991: Citron 1993; Cusick 2003; Peraino 2013) to explore music’s embodying, relational and temporal processes. In so doing, it points to the usefulness of feminist and queer musicology to performance studies in regard to its interest in the staging of subjectivities and social relations.

Texas Ranger Lee Hall: From the Red River to the Rio Grande by Chuck Parsons

Texas Ranger Lee Hall: From the Red River to the Rio Grande by Chuck Parsons

Network by Lee Hall

Network by Lee Hall

The Demystification of the Author and Metatheatre: Lee Hall’s Shakespeare in Love

Lee Hall’s Shakespeare in Love, reworking Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman’s original film, delves into the themes of literary inspiration and authorship. Hall’s play represents Shakespeare as a impotent writer and lover, subverting the longstanding conception of Shakespeare as a cultural icon. Will, the demystified Shakespeare in Hall’s play, is depicted as a writer inspired by the more famous contemporary playwright Marlowe. Marlowe’s influence on Will, moreover, reflects Hall’s self-consciousness about his work being overshadowed by the accomplishments of Stoppard’s film. Hall’s effort to overcome his anxiety of influence vis-a-vis Stoppard results in a series of theatrical experiments. In the play, the making of Romeo and Juliet is completed by multiple voices and collaborative efforts that contribute to the composing and staging of Will’s play. Hall thus underscores the multiple facets of theatrical authorship that deconstruct the notion of an isolated genius. His play foregrounds in a unique metatheatrical frame the production of a play as a process. Hall’s dramaturgical attempt to differentiate his adaptation from the original film results in emphasizing the dynamics of performance. Hall demonstrates his own creativity by dramatizing the national bard demystified in the very process of collaborative work that ironically consolidates his immortality.

Culture and the Working Class: Lee Hall’s Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters

Abstract In his work as a playwright, Lee Hall not only explores dramatically the troubled relationship between culture and the working class in Britain. He also seeks to challenge the stereotyped images of the working class in the media as being feckless, inarticulate and incapable of engaging in any cultural production on their own terms. In this paper I examine the ways in which this encounter between the working class and ‘high art’ is depicted in the film Billy Elliot (2000) and the play The Pitmen Painters (2008), both written by Lee Hall. In these portrayals of a working-class boy’s struggle to become a ballet dancer and of the collective efforts of a group of coal miners to express themselves as fine artists, I discuss how far Hall has succeeded in subverting received working-class stereotypes and what are the broader political and aesthetic implications of his cultural depictions of these coal-mining communities.

End-state welfarism

End-state welfarism

High Court Weighs Standards for Intellectual Disability

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Government NewsFull AccessHigh Court Weighs Standards for Intellectual DisabilityAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:31 Mar 2014https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2014.4a15AbstractThe Supreme Court wants to know if a convicted murderer’s cognitive abilities can be encapsulated in a single number that makes him eligible for the death penalty.The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the standards states adopt to determine if a murderer is eligible to be executed.Joe Ravi/Shutterstock.comJust how intellectually disabled must a convicted murderer be before the state is barred from executing him?That might seem like a complex question to a psychiatrist, but Supreme Court justices spent most of their time one cold March morning asking not about the man who spent 35 years on Florida’s death row but about statistical aspects of his IQ tests.Freddie Lee Hall was convicted of the rape and murder of a 21-year-old woman in 1978. In a prior case, Atkins v. Virginia, in 2002, the Supreme Court held that executing a mentally retarded (now termed “intellectually disabled”) person violated the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.”The Court in Atkins left it up to the states to determine standards for intellectual disability. Florida set the bar at an IQ of 70, along with deficits in adaptive behavior and an onset before age 18. Hall had scored 71 or higher on several IQ tests, making him eligible for the death penalty.Allen Winsor, Florida’s solicitor general, argued that once the prisoner scored above 70, the other two criteria became irrelevant. Furthermore, the state couldn’t have its laws governed by the subjective—and changeable—views of clinicians.The statistical argument revolved around whether a score of 70 was a “bright line,” a number that must be adhered to inflexibly.“Because of the standard error of measurement that is inherent in IQ tests, it is universally accepted that persons with obtained scores of 71 to 75 can, and often do, have mental retardation when those three prongs are met,” argued Hall’s attorney, Seth Waxman, at the March 10 hearing. “If a state conditions the opportunity to demonstrate mental retardation on obtained IQ test scores, it cannot ignore the measurement error that is inherent in those scores that is a statistical feature of the test instrument itself.”APA joined with other mental health organizations in filing an amicus curiae brief with the Court on Hall’s behalf.“We are saying that if a state relies on some definition of mental illness or intellectual disability, then that definition should reflect current research and current thinking,” said Colleen Coyle, J.D, APA’s general counsel. That definition requires more than just a pass/fail grade on an IQ test.APA’s position calls for not only recognizing the standard error of measurement but for applying all three criteria—IQ, functionality, and age of onset—in the context of a full evaluation of the person facing execution.“Using a single IQ score goes against how we think about intellectual disability,” said Richard Frierson, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and director of its forensic psychiatry fellowship. Frierson was not involved in the Hall case.“It is possible to diagnose a person with an IQ score above 70 but who has difficulties with adaptive functioning—their ability to care for themselves or live independently,” said Frierson, in an interview with Psychiatric News.“The oral argument underscored the differing perspectives with respect to the death penalty,” said APA Treasurer David Fassler, M.D., a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont. “A majority of the justices seemed skeptical of the limitations imposed by the current Florida law. The prevailing view was that judges and juries should have access to as much information as possible when considering whether or not a defendant is eligible for the death penalty.”APA and other mental health organizations and advocates may have more work ahead of them, regardless of the Court’s decision, which is expected later this spring.“We must better educate judges and lawyers about the role of adaptive functioning to remind them that this is a gray area, not one that is simply black and white,” said Frierson. “There are still so many disparities regarding persons on death row with mental illness and intellectual disability, and it will be interesting to see if the Court takes them up in the future.” ■A transcript of oral arguments to the Supreme Court in Hall v. Florida can be accessed here. The amicus brief filed by APA can be read here. ISSUES NewArchived

‘But ye de de art, divvint ye?’ Authenticity, identity and the historicisation of the Pitmen Painters

Lee Hall’s recent play The Pitmen Painters, based on William Feaver’s account of ‘unprofessional painting’ by miners in a Northumbrian coal mining village, raises issues surrounding the representation of the North in visual culture. This paper considers the now increased visibility of the Ashington Group and their adoption as nostalgic symbols of self-improvement and the intellectual life of the working classes. The reproductions of the Group’s paintings in Hall’s play prompt consideration of current debates around access to education, the use of art as social improvement, the loss of traditional Leftist values in the British Labour Party, the transformation of sites of heavy industry to cultural/heritage sites and the perceived poverty of ambition in communities such as Ashington today. The focus on the Group here also reignites problematic questions for art history itself: the art historian’s urge to critically frame groups of artists and the continued equation of non-professional art with ‘authenticity’ in art history and criticism, as well as the ethical issues involved in ‘speaking on behalf of others’ (Craig Owens).

Lincoln Memorial University and the Shaping of Appalachia (review)

Reviewed by: Lincoln Memorial University and the Shaping of Appalachia Samuel B. McGuire (bio) Lincoln Memorial University and the Shaping of Appalachia. By Earl J. Hess. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2011. Pp. xiii, 319. $45.00 cloth) Earl J. Hess’s study traces the evolution of Lincoln Memorial University from its founding in the late nineteenth century to the present. Chartered in 1897 to honor Abraham Lincoln and benefit descendants of southern white Unionists, the university not only provided disadvantaged Appalachian youth with an education but also furnished the counties surrounding Harrogate, Tennessee, with adept primary and secondary teachers. Rather than writing an institutional history, Hess focuses upon several issues that shaped the development of the university within the wider Mountain South—including the commemoration of Civil War veterans, Appalachian stereotypes, and notions of race and modernization. Employing an impressive assortment of newspapers, campus publications, and personal papers from archives across the nation, Hess claims the history of the school “exemplifies many aspects of Appalachian life, southern life, and American life from the turn of the twentieth century to the turn of the new millennium” (p. xvi). [End Page 125] Hess asserts that the Civil War and Lincoln’s legacy proved a fundamental element of the university culture throughout the late nineteenth century. Preeminent founder Oliver O. Howard and other boosters garnered financial contributions from northern benefactors— including Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller—by alleging that the institution fulfilled a promise Lincoln made to East Tennesseans for their wartime loyalty to the Union. Though he may have expanded upon the ways in which university boosterism contributed to the myth of Appalachian Unionism, he goes on to indicate that the institution became a symbol of sectional reconciliation. Influenced by Lost Cause rhetoric, school officials adopted Union blue and Rebel gray as school colors, invited Confederate veteran Robert Patterson to serve on the first board of directors, and named the principal campus building Grant–Lee Hall. Hess argues that institutional literature “pushed the Lincoln connection, the needs of the ‘southern mountains,’ and the ‘fraternal feeling’ between the two sections which had fought in the Civil War” (p. 30). He explains, too, that the Civil War legacy pervades the modern ethos on campus, as it is one of the foremost repositories of Lincolniana, and administrators require students to complete two courses on Lincoln and the Civil War era before graduating. Supplementing the works of Henry Shapiro, Allen Batteau, and James Klotter on the cultural construction of Appalachian “otherness,” the author also illustrates how Appalachian stereotypes shaped the mission of the college. The establishment of Lincoln Memorial University coincided with the late-nineteenth-century “discovery” of Appalachia, and the founders were part of a larger social and cultural movement to uplift southern highlanders—often at the expense of African Americans. Hess argues that most university founders perceived that “Appalachian culture was a problem” and sought to integrate mountaineers into mainstream American life by stressing “moral training, manual arts and crafts, and . . . strong sense of civic responsibility” (pp. 235–36). He acknowledges that the paternalism of university officials sustained the work-study program until the [End Page 126] 1960s, which allowed many underprivileged mountaineers to afford a college-level education, and that others genuinely sought to preserve elements of Mountain South folk culture. Though Hess admits that the perception of destitute mountain students occasionally “led to some degree of tension” between the student body and professors, he concludes that over the years “Lincoln Memorial University was shaped as much by Appalachia as its people tried to shape mountain youth” (pp. 228, 237). Hess has produced an insightful work that will surely intrigue scholars and general readers alike. While the author provides brief glimpses into student life at Lincoln Memorial University, some readers may yearn for greater insight into the unique aspects of students’ daily lives on campus. Additionally, within his chapter-length examination of the 1930 student strike, Hess’s claim that the row proved a “clash of cultures” in which “a handful of worldly professors had invaded the insular world of Appalachia” remains tenuous because it was not necessarily an insider-outsider conflict (p. 158). These quibbles aside, Hess’s study is...

Reviews of "The Pitmen Painters" by Lee Hall, a British playwright, a Manhattan Theatre Club presentation at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway, and "After the Revolution" by Amy Herzog, a Playwrights Horizon, production at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre on 42nd Street

GROUP, Vol. 35, No.i,March 2011 Theater Reviews Reviews of The Pitmen Painters by Lee Hall, a British playwright, a Manhattan Theatre Club presentation at the Samuel J.Friedman Theatre on Broadway, and AftertheRevolution by Amy Herzog, a Playwrights Horizon, production at the Peter JaySharp Theatre on 42nd Street. Reviewed by Bernard Frankel1 In whatis hopedtobe a regular feature ofGROUPy we arebeginning to review recent works from thetheater andfilm world. Spaceandtimepermit onlya small sampling from a large universe. Whatwillbeselected willbeinteresting, enlightening ,andtimely. Theworlds ofartandgroup therapy havemuchtooffer eachother. There hasbeenanoveremphasis ontheinterpretation ofartintopsychotherapeutic theory andmeanings, butnotenough ontheunconscious asanevolving artform as appliedto a therapy group.Thegroup, a glimpseofhistory through time,is an artistic development ofevolving meanings. Itcanbecalledtheartofliving, aswell as theliving ofart. IfI hadtochoosebetween a movieanda play, I wouldinvariably gofor theplay. Whilebotharestaged, theplayseemsmorelikelifeas lived,morespontaneous, more dependent oncharacter development. I never think ofthemovies asa placeto seekregenerative experience. Inmovies, I generally escapetheworld, andinplays, I meettheworldanew.Ofcourse, I amrevealing mybiasesthrough thesesloppy generalizations. Butifyouthink ofwhathasstoodthetestoftime, bringing tous theinfinite waysoftranslating manamidst allhiscontexts, theplayisyetanother context ofinfinity refreshed. ThePitmanPainters is aboutfiveWelshminersreplete withWelshaccents, circa1934, whohavesignedup foran artappreciation course, sponsored bytheir union.Truetothespirit ofworking-class useofmanuallabor, learning bytheory 1 Clinical Professor, Adelphi University, Derner Institute, Posgraduate Training, Garden City, New York. Bernard Frankel, PhD, ABPP, LCD, LCSW, LFAGPA. E-mail: bfbc@optonline.net. ISSN 0362-4021©2011 Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society 81 82 FRANKEL isreplaced byhands-on learning very quickly. In thisinstance, itis a paintbrush. Themenmakeartandundergo thedevelopment ofcreative experience. Fromthe simple imitative useofbrush, color, andcanvas, interspersed witha smallamount ofinteractive dialogue, their capacity toform images oncanvasismatched bytheir capacity toform meanings andcritiques. Thecreation ofartandofintellect aresimultaneous developments, aseachminer feeds oiftheother, spiraling intohigher levelsofdiversity. Forusgroup therapists, itis a wonderful exampleofa "workgroup." Whilethereisjealousy, envy, and "apple polishing," themainthrust iscompetition asexcellence without "one-down" results. They never forget their humble roots, anddespite upper-class temptations andaspirations, they stay together andgrow. Thedialogueiswonderful, pungent, salty, andfolksy, eventhough theWelsh accentis noteasy.Themenbecameknownas theAshington GroupinEngland. Featured asthe"Pitmen Painters," they hadsomecommercial success. Thepaintings arewonderful whenshown onstage with thepainter framing them with words. The original mystery ofmeaning isdeciphered bytheir owncreative work, andtoseeits form inthepaintings istobeinspired. Ifthis playcomestoBroadway, dontmissit. After theRevolution , thesecondplay, is a fractured family drama.As a small family group ofthree generations, theplotconcerns idealization andbetrayal. The background isof1930s to'6osMarxists andfellow travelers waiting for the"revolution ," andtheir progeny, infused with politically progressive ideals.I livedthrough theeraofWorldWorldII, theCold War, McCarthyism, theHollywood Ten,the Rosenbergs, and AlgerHiss.Itwas noteverybody whowas invited tojoin the Comnunist Party in1946, orwhostoodguardatPeekskill in1947, soPaulRobeson couldsing without being lynched. Thosewere exciting times compared tothepallid, homogenized ideologies oftoday. Thethemes ofthis play would befamiliar toallfamily therapists: subgroups ofthe valuedandthedevalued, family myths andfamily secrets, scapegoating, behaviorconforming transferences, projective identifications, systems homeostasis, andthe identified patient. Theoldersister toEmmaisa recovering drugaddict. Aswith the identified patient andscapegoating, thefamily needshertoholdthefamily myth together andpreserve theperfect daughter. Asa heroic andundaunted family, their rageattheir socialpersecution isdisplaced ontotheaddict: inshort, thepreservationoftheneededidentity , the"good" while needing roomfor the"bad." Itreminds meofmyfamily's myriad attempts toconcealthat, intheDepression ofthe1930s, wewerereceiving welfare. Whata quickimmigrant acculturation totheshameof government handouts andthelike - hooray for theTeaParty! Theplaysdistinction liesineachcharacter beinga product ofhistorical reality. EachepochofitsJewish liberal urban cultural history isrepresented bya character in theplay, whoisa modification ofitspredecessor. Grandpa Joe, themartyred Marxist , isfollowed bysonBen,whopallidly waitsfor the"revolution," andbydaughter Emma,a lawyer whoheadsa foundation forciviljustice.Thesemajorcharacters Theater Reviews: lhePitmen Painters andAfter the Revolution 83 portray thepolitical andsocialimprint ofthetimes, ascharacter structure ismodified tobothretain family origin andlivecontextually inreality. Grandpa wasa spyfor theSovietUnioninWorld WarII. Purists, whoseekthe "trueand uncontaminated" hero,cannotintegrate patriot and spylivingin one identity. Purists do notallowcontexts as a meansofunderstanding oneanother. On theother hand,thelossofidealsseemstobreedtheblended personality ofour time. AsVictor Frankl putit:No oneisimmune from suffering. Whatdistinguishes onepersonfrom another aretherootsoftheir suffering. ...

Tidewater Virginians Name Their Homes

FOLLOWING AN INHERITED PRACTICE, the first settlers in Virginia gave names to their houses. For at least two centuries naming home places in this country served a useful purpose; today, although the custom is no longer of practical value, since any house can be identified by reference to its position on a street or road, the romantic and nostalgic appeal of the practice makes naming homes continue without abatement. It makes no difference whether their homes and holdings are small or large, modest or pretentious, limited or extensive, many people in Tidewater Virginia, like people in other parts of the United States, still devote a good deal of thought to selecting names for their homes. An examination of these Tidewater names provides a kind of entertainment and also throws light on practices and patterns in onomastics that have long been well known. In the simplest possible manner of naming houses, some places in Tidewater Virginia have been called merely by the names of their owners. In the early days of the Virginia settlement, for example, in the former Elizabeth City County a tract was called Ceeley's simply because a man named Ceeley patented the land and lived upon it. In Prince George County a place long called Maycock's is referred to by Captain John Smith in his General History of Virginia as 'Master Maycocks Dividend,' but the shorter form soon came to be used. Smith also mentions 'Master Thomas ShefJelds Plantation,' which came to be called merely Sheffield. In James City County a large holding that was patented by Richard Kingsmill is still called Kingsmill, but the popular notion is that a mill formerly stood on the place. Combining the owner's name with house or hall adds a dignity and an elegance that the owner's name alone lacks. Thus, the document ending the hostilities of the Revolutionary War was signed near Yorktown in the Moore House. Elsewhere in eastern Virginia there are places with such names as the Adam Thoroughgood House, the Rolfe House, and the Waller House; and there are also places with names like Bassett Hall, Lee Hall, and Warner Hall. Bacon's Castle in Surry County seems to be the only home in Tidewater to be graced with the designation castle, but on the Eastern Shore there is a home called Old Castle. Although plantation has never been a widely used name element in Virginia, Bennett's Plantation and Tyree's Plantation are old names in Isle of Wight and James City counties. Owners of other places have combined their names with words that seemed to them picturesque and harmonious. A variety of combinations is seen in

Captain Lee Hall of Texas

Captain Lee Hall of Texas

Captain Lee Hall of Texas.

Captain Lee Hall of Texas.

Captain Lee Hall of Texas

Captain Lee Hall of Texas

Review: Captain Lee Hall of Texas, by Dora Neill Raymond

Review: <i>Captain Lee Hall of Texas</i>, by Dora Neill Raymond

Captain Lee Hall of Texas.

Captain Lee Hall of Texas.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF INFLUENZA BY DIRECT CONTACT—HANDS AND EATING UTENSILS

THE DISTRIBUTION OF INFLUENZA BY DIRECT CONTACT—HANDS AND EATING UTENSILS Charles Lynch, and James G. Cumming CopyRight https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.9.1.25 Published Online: August 30, 2011

Rough lee hall

Rough lee hall

Rough Lee Hall

Journal Article Rough Lee Hall Get access F. C. Birkbeck Terry F. C. Birkbeck Terry Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s8-X, Issue 238, 18 July 1896, Page 63, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s8-X.238.63e Published: 18 July 1896

Rough Lee Hall

Rough Lee Hall