The Curious Room: Collected Dramatic Writings
Jenny Uglow (ed.)

Chatto & Windus, 1996

Although best known for her novels and stories, Angela Carter had an easily ignited enthusiasm for tackling other forms and genres. Particularly drawn to film and drama because of her vivid visual imagination, she left behind a substantial body of plays and screenplays. She wrote scripts for radio and TV, film and the stage, and even an opera. This wonderful collection of her dramatic works, the first volume in Chatto’s Collected Edition of her works, shows the range and power of her imagination and inventiveness. The Curious Room contains 5 radio plays, stage plays, TV scripts and the opera of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. It also contains the screenplays of The Company of Wolves and The Magic Toyshop, which were directed by Neil Jordan. Each piece is prefaced by a valuable introduction, which explains the context and background of the work. Richard Eyre and Neil Jordan among others, share their experiences of working with Angela Carter, and there are revealing anecdotes from Carter herself, which give insights into her working processes and her views on the limitations and possibilities of each genre. The Curious Room is a bonanza for Carter fans full of magnificent and startling new material.

These works are explored further in Charlotte Crofts, Anagrams of Desire (MUP, 2003)

IMAGE: © Angela Carter / Original cover for Jenny Uglow (ed.), The Curious Room: Collected Dramatic Writings (Chatto & Windus, 1996)