Denise Deegan (born 1952) is an English novelist and playwright. She is best known for her play, ''

Daisy Pulls It Off ''Daisy Pulls It Off '' is a comedy play by Denise Deegan. It is an original script. It is a parody of wholesome adventure stories about life in a 1920s girls' English boarding school, in a similar genre to those by Angela Brazil. The original pr ...

''.

Biography

Deegan was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, where she trained in stage management at

East 15 Acting School East 15 Acting School (East 15) is a British drama school in Loughton, Essex.Its degrees are awarded by the University of Essex, with which it merged on 1 September 2000. As of 2020, Essex University, where East 15 is located, has been ranked No. ...

. Prior to writing ''

'' (1983), she worked as a freelance stage manager. Deegan is the resident writer for the prison, HMP Featherstone, where she teaches writing to inmates.

Work

Deegan is best known for ''

'' (1983), a comedy that which spoofs "schoolgirl novels" of the type written by

Angela Brazil Angela Brazil (pronounced "brazzle") (30 November 186813 March 1947) was one of the first British writers of "modern schoolgirls' stories", written from the characters' point of view and intended primarily as entertainment rather than moral ins ...

. The play was called a "pitch-perfect spoof" by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and it ran for three years in the

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...

. Her play, ''The Hiring Fair'', is based on a true story of events that took place at the Portfield Fair. Playwright and critic,

Michelene Wandor Michelene Dinah Wandor (née Samuels; born 20 April 1940), known from 1963 to at least 1979 as Michelene Victor, is an English playwright, critic, broadcaster, poet, lecturer, and musician. Birth and education She was born Michelene Samuels i ...

, identifies Deegan's plays as feminist in nature.

Bibliography

* ''The Project (1971).'' * ''The One and Only Wonderous Legends Show'' (for EMMA Theatre Company). * ''

'' (1983). * ''A Late Late Christmas Carol.'' * ''The Midsummer Gathering'' * ''No Birds Sing'' * ''The Harvester's Feast'' * ''The Hiring Fair'' * ''Turn the Old Year Go'' * ''Tom Jones'' (adaptation) * ''Swallows & Amazons'' (co-adaptation) * ''Transports of Delight'' * ''Every Night Something Awful'' * ''Ideal Words''

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Preview of a performance of ''Daisy Pulls It Off''
(video) 1952 births Living people 20th-century English women writers 20th-century British novelists Laurence Olivier Award winners English women novelists English women dramatists and playwrights Alumni of East 15 Acting School {{england-writer-stub