Dramaturgy

    "Beautiful Thing" is full of British slang that is sometimes specific to the early 90's. In our production we wanted to update it for 2002, so some of the references were changed.  Below is some of the work that I passed out to the cast on slang words that were in the script and certain cultural references.

“Richard of York gained battle in vain” - Mnemonic rhyme to help remember the colors of the rainbow - red, orange,
                                                                        yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Slag- a woman who sleeps around with different men.
Toff- a rich, well-dressed, or upper-class person, especially a man.
Plaits- hair braids
Libs- short for Liberties, as in 'they're taking liberties (advantage) of me.'
Bunkin’- Skipping school; bumming around; goofing off.
Blindin’- particularly good looking
Bubble and Squeak- A meal made of fried potatoes and other leftover vegetables.
Bloke- a male.
Dago- derogatory slang for a person of Hispanic origins.
 
 

    Richard and Judy-  One of Britan’s most famous talk shows.

“Copper from ‘Crimewatch’” – Nick Ross 

Photofits- profiles with pictures to help identify criminals
Frankie Dettori- replacing Bill Beaumont on Question of Sport
Question of Sport- popular sports game show
Kip- sleep.
“Brain ya”- knock over the head.
Git- Stupid idiot.
Knockabout- "Knock about" is to soccer what "playing catch" is to baseball. (And I know you already know that soccer is
                        called football over there, so I won't even mention it...but, hey, you never know.) Also means, just doing stuff.
Grange Hill- show on BBC dealing with school.  For more info: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/drama/grangehill/index.shtml
Gateways- A supermarket (no longer exists) so it’s now “Kwik Save”
Spliff - A tobacco cigarette into which either marijuana, hash hish or hash oil has been put.
Pg 17 criers- Halle Berry (Gazza), Gwyneth Paltrow (Anne Diamond), Margaret Thatcher (Thatcher)
Knackered- tired or broken.
Sod - attach to any word to make it derogatory like 'sod off' is 'get lost' while 'sod you' is like 'bite me.’
Cor- Wow!
Hello magazine- British mag that follows celebs and royals.  http://www.hellomagazine.com/

Sally from Coronation Street

Coronation Street- A soap opera on British TV.  http://www.coronationstreet.co.uk/index.xml
Fetching- very attractive.
Bang on food- hits the target.  “right on, exactly.”
Tar- whatever.
Nicked- stolen.
“That’s a cuss” – that’s a rude comment.
Oswald Moseley-  Change to “Elvis Presley.”
Pg 29 “East 17 aint into drugs”- is now “S Club 7 aint into drugs”
Bollocks- balls.
Bob’s Full House- is now “The Weakest Link” and Mastermind is “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”
Loo- bathroom.
Full Stop- Means the same as "Period" American vernacular.
Lobotomy- Surgical incision into the frontal lobe of the brain to sever one or more nerve tracts,
                       a technique formerly used to treat certain mental disorders but now rarely performed.
Sky- tv station… change to “the telly”
West Ham- Soccer team.
Tavy Bridge- shopping area.
Skint- broke.
Pucker- A word of Anglo-Indian (Hindi) origin. Defined by the Concise Oxford Dictionary as "genuine;
                of good quality, reliable; of full weight"
Gary Lineker- British footballer that’s famous for never getting a yellow card.
Slapper- same as slag.  A loose woman.
Home and Away- British tv show on Channel 7.  http://homeandaway.com.au/
Frottage- rubbing body against partner or object for arousal.
Bagsy- desire to have something.
Holiday- vacation.
Mama-San- The manageress/boss/senior lady in a Japanese establishment was always known as the Mama-san.
Gutted- Upset about something.
Grass- tell.