Spoonface Steinberg by Lee Hall

**** This programme was requested by the following listeners:

*Anne-Marie Callaghan
*John Pheasant
*Suzana Fry
*Michele Ryan
*Maggie Summers
*Kate Skinner
*Sonia Woolley
*Jane Muscroft
*Jan Ibbetson
*Dr Sue Jones
*Susan Walsh

Part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Weekend. ****

Spoonface is 7 years old, autistic and terminally ill with cancer.

She's fascinated by opera and by the way her parents behave. With the help of their cleaner, Mrs Spud, she tries to come to terms with her extraordinary life.

Lee Hall's award-winning monologue is performed by Becky Simpson.

First broadcast in 1997, it elicited such an extraordinary response from BBC Radio 4 listeners that a repeat was scheduled within days of the original transmission.

Originally the final part of Hall's quartet of dramas examining the experience of growing up from the perspective of children, Spoonface Steinberg was subsequently adapted for TV and the stage.

Lee Hall went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay of Billy Elliot, later turned into a stage musical.

Producer: Kate Rowland

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1997.

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