Denise Pulls Daisy Off AgainDate: 22 April 2002
Set in the 1920s, Daisy Pulls It Off was actually written in the 1980s, when it became one of the decade's surprise hits. Now revived in the 2000s, Denise Deegan, author of the consummate girls' school comedy, explains how & why it came about.
Multiple Strands
When I finished writing the first draft of Daisy Pulls It Off at the end of 1981, I had obviously no idea of how successful the play would become. I'd had three plays performed previously, none of them having much in common with the style and subject matter of Daisy.
The idea for Daisy had had several strands that eventually all came together. I'd wanted to have a go at writing something that had a thriller-type pace, another play starring a snappy female detective, a play where characters spoke using a particular type of slang/jargon, another one for which I just had a vision of schoolgirls of another era climbing out of dormitory windows, and also a play that had plenty of good female roles - these being in short supply. I was interested too in writing something about the inequalities of the education system.
When all these strands finally merged, I originally thought of writing the play as a one-woman show for an actress friend, Charlotte Westoram, but both she and another actor encouraged me to write it for a larger cast - which I did, for a cast of seven or eight. As most playwrights know, it's usually easier to get a play put on if it has a small cast. Which is partly why Daisy has the narrative structure it has - each actor (except for Daisy and Trixie) introducing themselves - with a minimal change of costume to indicate another character. I also envisaged that it might be performed by small touring companies with ingenious but minimal sets - hence the narration. I believe too, that nothing is impossible to portray in theatre.
Choosing the Right Era
Once I'd decided what kind of play I wanted to write, I decided to set the play in 1927 because of plot requirements, and set about reading every story of that period set in fictional girls boarding schools that I could lay my hands on. It's easier in many ways to set a play in a period other than the present - the information about it is complete more or less, and the influences before and after clearly seen. On the other hand, there's always an expert or three in the audience who spots the undeliberate mistake, or who disagrees with your interpretation of a particular event or trend.
With Daisy, the world of schoolgirls fiction is small and relatively easy to examine, though any mistakes more glaring. There were thousands of school stories in comics, annuals and novels published in the 1920s of which I've read only a proportion. Many of the storylines and their characters are similar - for example if a relative, son or daughter is said to be missing in the first couple of pages, you know without doubt that the said missing person will eventually turn up, bringing the story to a gloriously happy end.
Fiction though the stories are, social views and attitudes of the time are mirrored in them - several in our own times are obviously seen as questionable. I was particularly struck by how in some stories, a new girl will arrive at a school - a 'colonial' or from a humble background, academically gifted but looked down upon by some of the other richer but morally poorer girls - and how at the end she is revealed to be of noble blue-blooded parentage, almost as though to say that it is only girls from an aristocratic background who are capable of pure morals and of fighting their way to the top of the pile.
Of course, lots of stories do champion the cause of the 'ordinary' girl, though hardly any are set in the state schools of the time. But the stories were entertainment for girls of all backgrounds, and continue to be so. I used to fantasise along with many other girls of going to a Malory Towers type boarding school - and even got my mother to put one down on a list of schools to go to if I should pass the eleven-plus, which I didn't. You're a Brick, Angela - The Girls' Story written by Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig, published by Victor Gollancz in 1976, is a brilliant book detailing the history of girls fiction, and was a source of information and inspiration for my writing of Daisy.
A Female-Friendly Outlet
Once the play was written I circulated copies of it to theatres that had expressed an interest in other work I'd sent them, and though I received many encouraging letters in return, none of them wanted to do it. An organisation called Women Live set up to improve the lot of women in theatre was circulating a list of theatres keen to consider new writing by women.
David Gilmore, artistic director at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton, was one of these, and a theatre-designer friend, Glenn Willoughby (who later designed set and costume for Daisy), recommended David as a good director doing exciting things. I sent the script to David and a short time later received a letter from him saying it was wonderful and he wanted to do it. I have never stopped feeling amazingly lucky that he should nurture and direct something so brilliantly.
And now on the eve of the play's London revival 19 years later - along with some of the original, production team - it feels that the years in between have telescoped, shrunk, and that the first production happened not so long ago.
Daisy Pulls It Off opens at the West End’s Lyric Theatre on 29 April 2002, following previews from 18 April. For information on the show's reduced price previews offer, click here (valid to 27 April only).
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