Life in Squares
Life in Squares | |
---|---|
Genre | Drama |
Written by | Simon Kaijser |
Composer | Edmund Butt |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 3 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producer | Rhonda Smith |
Production locations | London Charleston Farmhouse |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | Ecosse Films Tiger Aspect Productions |
Original release | |
Network |
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Release | 27 July 10 August 2015 | –
Life in Squares is a British television mini-series that was broadcast on BBC Two from 27 July to 10 August 2015.[1][2][3] The title comes from Dorothy Parker's witticism that the Bloomsbury Group, whose lives it portrays, had "lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles".[4]
Plot
The three-part serial centres on the close and often fraught relationship between sisters, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, and Vanessa’s sexually complicated alliance with gay artist Duncan Grant as they, and their group of like-minded friends, navigate their way through love, sex and artistic life through the first half of the 20th century.
Production
The series was commissioned by Ben Stephenson and Lucy Richer, and produced by Ecosse Films in association with Tiger Aspect Productions. The executive producers are Lucy Bedford, Amanda Coe, Douglas Rae and Lucy Richer.[5][6] Filming began in August 2014 in London and Charleston Farmhouse.[7][8]
Cast
The main roles were played by:[9]
- Eve Best as Older Vanessa Bell
- Ed Birch as Lytton Strachey
- Lucy Boynton as Angelica Garnett
- Jack Davenport as David Garnett
- Jerome Finch as Saxon Sydney-Turner
- Phoebe Fox as Young Vanessa Bell
- Andrew Havill as Older Clive Bell
- Guy Henry as Older Leonard Woolf
- Sam Hoare as Young Clive Bell
- Finn Jones as Julian Bell
- Edmund Kingsley as John Maynard Keynes
- Catherine McCormack as Virginia Woolf
- Lydia Leonard as Young Virginia Woolf
- James Northcote as Adrian Stephen
- James Norton as Young Duncan Grant
- Rupert Penry-Jones as Older Duncan Grant
- Al Weaver as Young Leonard Woolf
Critical reception
Writing in UK newspaper
In The Independent, Ellen E Jones was less impressed, writing: "The romantic entanglements of this set are so complicated that there is an undeniable achievement in laying them out clearly, as writer Amanda Coe has done here. Alas, the work's the thing and while this opening episode contained all the gossip, it conveyed none of the depth of thought or artistic feeling that must ultimately justify our interest (if any) in these people". She concluded by citing both BBC Radio 4’s parody of the Bloomsbury Group, Gloomsbury, and the "excellent" BBC Four documentary How to Be Bohemian, as having "advanced an alternative view of the set as, essentially, self-indulgent ninnies, cosseted by their wealth. If you've had the pleasure of either programme it would have been especially difficult to take this new drama seriously".[4]
Broadcast
Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on 27 October 2015 on BBC First.[11]
References
- ^ "BBC - BBC announces 3x60 films by Amanda Coe, Life In Squares - Media Centre". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ Singh, Anita (28 February 2015). "Bloomsbury set laid bare in 'intimate' new BBC drama". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ "Life in Squares and Vita & Virginia are bringing the Bloomsbury group to a new generation". Independent.co.uk. 6 March 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ a b Jones, Ellen E (27 July 2015). "Life in Squares, BBC2 - TV review: Self-indulgent and over-sexed, the Bloomsbury set were hard to take seriously". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ^ "BBC - Phoebe Fox, Lydia Leonard, Sam Hoare and James Norton to star in Life In Squares for BBC Two - Media Centre". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ Designers, PFD - Website and Graphic. "Life in Squares - Ecosse Films". Ecossefilms.com. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ "BBC Two's Life In Squares confirms cast". Digitalspy.co.uk. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ "Visit BBC drama Life in Squares' main location in Charleston". The Argus. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ "BBC2: Life in Squares: Credits – Episode 1". BBC Online. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ^ Mangan, Lucy (28 July 2015). "Life in Squares review: 'absurd, beautiful characters in a ridiculously golden world'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ^ Purcell, Charles (23 October 2015). "New This Week (Oct 26): Chicago Fire, Bear Grylls, Halloween, RWC finals and live sport". The Green Room. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
External links
- Life in Squares at BBC Online
- Life in Squares at IMDb