Beryl

I had a constant battle to get where I am today. Scrimping and scraping, people telling me not to do it, I couldn't do it. That my life wouldn't amount to very much. Now I might have had a bit of natural talent but I got here because of pure determination and persistence. Stubbornness you might say. I always went that extra mile, pushed myself that bit harder than anyone else and never took anything for granted.
It was 1954 when Beryl Charnock met keen cyclist Charlie Burton. In those days they cycled in clubs and once Beryl started she was smitten, not only with Charlie, but by the thrill and freedom found on two wheels. Beryl was better than good, she was the best, and she was determined to stay that way.
Beryl Burton was five times world-pursuit champion, thirteen times national champion, twice road-racing world champion and twelve times national champion. Her accolades include time trials, former world-record holder, former British record-holder, numerous sports awards an MBE and an OBE. Burton was one of the most astonishing sports people ever to have lived, but she remains something of a mystery.
Beryl, which celebrates the extraordinary sporting achievements of this inspirational cyclist, has been specially commissioned as an adaptation from Maxine Peake's acclaimed 2012 Radio 4 play and marks her stage-writing debut. It received its world premiere on 30 June 2014 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in the Courtyard Theatre.

One of the UK's best loved actors, Maxine Peake is also an accomplished writer - her credits include BERYL (West Yorkshire Playhouse), QUEENS OF THE COAL AGE (Royal Exchange), "BETTY!" A SORT OF MUSICAL (Royal Exchange) and THE LAST TESTAMENT OF LILLIAN BILOCCA (Hulltruck Theatre). Her film credits include Mike Leigh's epic period drama PETERLOO, Oscar-nominated THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, a BIFA-nominated turn in independent British feature FUNNY COW (on which Maxine served as Executive Producer through her own production company, Vexed Pixie) and Thomas Clay's period thriller FANNY LYE DELIVER'D. Maxine is best known for leading high profile TV dramas such as BLACK MIRROR: METALHEAD (Netflix), THREE GIRLS (BBC), SILK (BBC), THE VILLAGE (BBC), SHAMELESS (Channel 4) and THE BISEXUAL (Hulu/Channel 4). In 2014, Maxine played the title role in HAMLET at the Manchester Royal Exchange in a critically acclaimed "radical reimagining" of William Shakespeare's play, returning to play Blanche in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE in 2016 and Winnie in Samuel Beckett's HAPPY DAYS in 2018, in equally lauded productions. In 2019 Maxine was seen at the Barbican in one woman show AVALANCHE, and returned to the National Theatre to lead Lucy Kirkwood's THE WELKIN in 2020.