An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)

Set right after World War II, a naive teenage girl joins a shabby theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of Peter Pan, the play quickly turns into a dark metaphor for youth... See full summary »

Director:

Mike Newell

Writers:

Beryl Bainbridge (novel), Charles Wood

Stars:

Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Georgina Cates

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alan Rickman	...	P.L. O'Hara
Hugh Grant	...	Meredith Potter
Georgina Cates	...	Stella
Alun Armstrong	...	Uncle Vernon
Peter Firth	...	Bunny
Prunella Scales	...	Rose
Rita Tushingham	...	Aunt Lily
Alan Cox	...	Geoffrey
Edward Petherbridge	...	St. Ives
Nicola Pagett	...	Dotty Blundell
Carol Drinkwater	...	Dawn Allenby
Clive Merrison	...	Desmond Fairchild
Gerard McSorley	...	George
Ruth McCabe	...	Grace Bird
James Frain	...	John Harbour

Storyline

Set right after World War II, a naive teenage girl joins a shabby theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of Peter Pan, the play quickly turns into a dark metaphor for youth as she becomes drawn into a web of sexual politics and intrigue.

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Plot Keywords:

theatre | girl | theatre troupe | peter pan | teenage girl | 

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Taglines:

In a world of make believe Stella is about to discover the difference between true love... and real life.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and some language

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 July 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Aventure en coulisses

Filming Locations:

Bewley's Oriental Cafe - 78-79 Grafton Street, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$258,195 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), British Screen Productions, Portman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Georgina Cates had unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of Stella under her real name of Clare Woodgate. Frustrated, she dyed her hair, reinvented herself as a 16-year-old Liverpool girl called "Georgina Cates", and landed the role.

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Goofs

When O'Hara is running down the wharf in 1947, there is a modern car carrier (ship) in the background.

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Quotes

P.L. O'Hara: There have been times when I was close to death. I knew it... felt it... and what I thought was, "I have a son, and it will not be the end of me." But it is.

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Connections

References Stella Maris (1925)

User Reviews

A convoluted but cogent look at theatre and actors

The real hub around which this movie moves is not Hugh Grant or Alan Rickman but Georgina Cates as Stella, an unpaid sixteen year old student who is not only stagestruck but enamored of Meredith Potter (Hugh Grant), the cruel and thoughtless director who is more interested in boys.

Stella, ignorant of most of life, is unaware of his predilictions and so ill-informed she is afraid she might have a venereal disease from touching a man with her hand. Having been abandoned by her mother (who is the voice on the phone giving the time), she is being raised by her aunt and uncle, well-meaning people who love her but have no idea of what to do with her or tell her. Eventually she is seduced by P.L. O'Hara (Alan Rickman), who has come to Liverpool to play Captain Hook but also to once again look for the woman who bore him a child many years before. He imagines he has a son and that belief allows him to continue, despite his lack of self worth.

He eventually succumbs to his own predilictions when he pursues Stella. She, having no idea of sex other than as something to be done to her, is a slow learner but eventually says that like "learning a ukelele, it takes practice." The Grant character is so thoroughly despicable it proves once and for all that Hugh Grant can, in fact, act. Rickman gives a well done, mostly underplayed performance, not even having a line in the first four scenes he is in. Georgina Cates is the real jewel here, with a combination of naivete and boldness, along with a girlish charm which makes Stella believable as well as pathetic. Not the greatest movie made but a well done, well cast piece of work by professionals with a sense of purpose. See it! But not for the children.