Richard Barrington "Rikki" Beadle-BlairMBE (born July 1961) is a British actor, director, and playwright.[1] He is the artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica.[1]
Early life
Beadle-Blair was born in Camberwell and raised in Bermondsey, both in south London, by a single mother, Monica.[1] Rikki was brought up with a brother, Gary Beadle (also an actor, of Eastenders fame),[1] and a sister.[1] He attended Lois Acton's Experimental Bermondsey Lampost Free School[1] and, later, Old Vic Youth Theatre.[1]
Career
Beadle-Blair wrote the screenplay for the 1995 feature film Stonewall (dir. Nigel Finch, 1995).[2] He adapted his own screenplay of Stonewall for the stage and his production company Team Angelica, which he took to the 2007 Edinburgh Festival. He also directed, produced, designed both sets & costumes, & choreographed on the show. The play was nominated for "Best Ensemble" at The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence.[3]
In Autumn 2007, FIT, a play for young people commissioned by the Manchester-based arts organisation queerupnorth and the gay equality organisation Stonewall, went on tour around the UK. The play was developed to help tackle homophobic bullying in Britain's schools.[4] Beadle-Blair subsequently adapted it into a film (2010).[5]
Familyman – Theatre Royal Stratford East (May 2008, directed by Dawn Reid). Text published by Oberon Books.
FIT (2007) – National Tour – adapted for film
Stonewall (2006/7) – stage adaptation of the BBC film.
Taken In (2005) – Set in a halfway house for homeless youths.
Bashment (2005) – explores the controversy around dancehall reggae music and the consequences of homophobic lyrics – Theatre Royal Stratford East. Text published by Oberon Books.
Totally Practically Naked in My Room on a Wednesday Night (2005) – a night in the life of 17-year-old Dylan, desperate to lose his virginity.
South London Passion Plays trilogy (Gutted,[9]Laters and Sweet) (2004) – Tristan Bates Theatre
Captivated (1997) – the story of a gay black man imprisoned for murder. Shane corresponds with an Asian pen pal who writes him as an act of charity. Shane's self-hatred turns into a soul-searching journey from cockiness to agonised self-reflection, and finally ultimate gratitude for his unseen friend.
Ask and Tell – homosexuality and the Army.
twothousandandSex – an ensemble play about sex and sexuality featuring 35 actors – at the Drill Hall Theatre.
Four one-hour ensemble plays
Exposures
Street Art
The Grope Box
Fucking Charlie
Below the Radar – a straight guy/gay guy pair of roommates and their sexual misadventures in New Orleans.
Human – two terminally ill cancer patients get together for a final riotous love affair.
Prettyboy – described as a 'Dogma Style Musical" at the Oval House Theatre.
Gunplay (he did not direct)
Wild at Heart Riverside Studios (1988)
Radio/Audio
Roots of Homophobia (writer/presenter, Radio 4, 2001) an exploration of Jamaican homophobia.[10] It won a 2002 Sony Best Feature Award.[11]
Whoopsie (writer; directed by Turan Ali for Bona Broadcasting/Radio 4, 2021) - gay comedy-drama, 28 mins.[12]
Scooters, Shooters & Shottas: a Curious Tale (director, written by John R Gordon, a Team Angelica/The Art Machine co-production, 2022) - a 40 minute podcast drama of raucous Black queer lives in 'the endz' of South London.[13]
Team Angelica
In 2011 with long term creative partner John R. Gordon, Beadle-Blair founded Team Angelica Publishing, a queer-of-colour-centric press.[citation needed] Their first book was Beadle-Blair's inspirational What I Learned Today.[citation needed] They have since published gay Somali Diriye Osman's groundbreaking short story collection, Fairytales For Lost Children, which won the Polari prize in 2014,[14] and Gordon's Drapetomania, favourably reviewed in the Financial Times,[15] which won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Best LGBTQ Fiction in 2019.[16] Most recently they published Larry Duplechan's memoir through his love of film, Movies That Made Me Gay (2024).[17]
