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Barbara Pym

BARBARA PYM

  (1913 - 1980)

Nationality:    English
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was born to Frederic and Irena Pym on June 2, 1913, in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, on the Welsh border. Since Irena Pym was assistant organist at the parish church of St. Oswald, entertaining vicars and curates became part of Pym family life. In 1931, Barbara entered St. Hilda's College at Oxford, where she read English literature. She then returned to Oswestry where she began writing novels, but without initial success. When war overtook Europe in 1940, Barbara was assigned to the Censorship office at Bristol and decided to join the Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service). In 1944, she was posted to Naples until the end of the war. After the war, Barbara took a job at the International African Institute in London, and soon became the assistant editor for the journal AfricA. Her career as a published writer was then launched. Two years after her modest success as a writer, in 1963, Barbara submitted An Unsuitable Attachment to Jonathan Cape, her publisher; it was rejected as being out of step with the times. In all, twenty publishers refused to publish her latest novel. But despite the bleak future, she continued to write. In 1971 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy; in 1974 she suffered a minor stroke. She then retired from the Institute and went to live with Hilary at her cottage in Finstock, Oxfordshire. In the January 21,1977 issue of the Times Literary Supplement, Barbara Pym was twice named (by Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil) as "the most underrated novelist of the century." She emerged from "the wilderness" after sixteen years of obscurity, to almost instant fame and recognition. Only two years after her rediscovery, her cancer returned and this time, treatments were unsuccessful. She died at the Michael Sobell House, a hospice in Oxford, on January 11, 1980. She is buried in the churchyard at Finstock.
- thanks to Hazel Bell for the information

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below is a list of Barbara Pym's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

        Crampton Hodnet         German Baron, The         Mothers and Fathers         No Fond Return of Love         Parrot's Eggs'         Pilgrimage, The         Some Tame Gazelle         Sweet Dove Died, The         Unsuitable Attachment, An



Crampton Hodnet

Synopsis:
the stirrings of suburban emotions in Victorian Gothic houses of North Oxford

Notes:
playreading Adapted (by Carol Bennett) from Barbara Pym's novel, performed by members of the Cathedral Library staff

1st Produced:
Library, Lincoln Cathedral    2002

Organisations:
Barbara Pym Society

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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German Baron, The

Synopsis:
Two English spinsters vie for the attentions of an enigmatic German baron at a mountain resort.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Harverd Law School    2006

Organisations:
Barbara Pym Society of North America Conference

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  narrator

Further Reference:
-

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Mothers and Fathers

Synopsis:
Pastiche of Ivy Compton-Burnett; stirring family secrets and passions are revealed

Notes:
Playreading Adapted (by Yvonne Cocking) from An unpublished short story by Barbara Pym

1st Produced:
St Hilda's College, Oxford    2004

Organisations:
Barbara Pym Society

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  narrator

Further Reference:
-

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No Fond Return of Love

Synopsis:
Two lady indexers investigate the life of an editor, whom one of them finally marries

Notes:
adapted by Adrian Benjamin. Produced Man in the Moon theatre, 1994

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  1 woman remains silent

Further Reference:
-

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Parrot's Eggs'

Synopsis:
Satirises the posings and jealousies of a group of archaeologists which culminate in the wedding of two of the rivals

Notes:
Playreading Adapted by Yvonne Cocking from An unbroadcast radio play by Barbara Pym.

1st Produced:
St Hilda's College, Oxford    2003

Organisations:
Barbara Pym Society

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pilgrimage, The

Synopsis:
A devoted young lady fan of an author visits her idol, and is sadly disillusioned

Notes:
Playreading Adapted (by Yvonne Cocking) from An unpublished story by Barbara Pym

1st Produced:
St Hilda's College, Oxford    2002

Organisations:
Barbara Pym Society

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  narrator

Further Reference:
-

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Some Tame Gazelle

Synopsis:
Two sisters enjoy sub-romantic encounters with members of the clergy, but chose to remain spinsters

Notes:
Playreading Adapted (by Elizabeth Proud) from Barbara Pym's novel

1st Produced:
St Hilda's College, Oxford    2001

Organisations:
Barbara Pym Society

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  male doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Sweet Dove Died, The

Synopsis:
Elderly antique dealer Humphrey is much taken by elegant but ageing Leonora - but Leonora's fancy is more for Humphrey's nephew James - but James is gay and falls into the clutches of visiting American Ned.

Notes:
Playreading Adapted by Yvonne Cocking And Bridget Villatoro from novel by Barbara Pym

1st Produced:
St Hilda's College, Oxford (Playreading)    2007

Organisations:
Barbara Pym Society

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  Narrator - m or f

Further Reference:
-

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Unsuitable Attachment, An

Synopsis:
Parishioners of an unfashionable quarter of London fret over improbable attachments and visit Rome in a party

Notes:
playreading Adapted (by Amanda Fawsett) from Barbara Pym's novel of the same title

1st Produced:
St Hilda's College, Oxford    2005

Organisations:
Guildford School of Acting

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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