Sue Limb interview
A highly prolific comedy writer, both on radio and in print, Sue Limb describes how Gloomsbury came together: "In the 1980s I wrote a literary parody sitcom for Radio 4 about the lake poets called the Wordsmiths at Gorsemere. I enjoyed it so much that even at the time we thought about further literary gangs that one could have fun with and Bloomsbury was mentioned. Decades passed and I never did anything about it but I'd been writing for children and adults for so long that I wanted a change. So I thought it was the right moment to have another crack at the Bloomsbury idea."
"The thing that's really hilarious about Bloomsbury is that, a bit like my own generation in the 1960s, they thought that they'd invented free love and that they were the first people to discard the conventions of marriage. But of course they were all terribly privileged and wealthy otherwise they wouldn't have been able to spend their time bed-hopping and so on. But at the same time there were members of the group or marginal to the group who were great figures in literature, like Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. The idea of having great geniuses who can't make toast for example is quite amusing and also contrasting their importance to history with normal human stuff that we all struggle with makes it quite an appealing project."
"I actually feel very affectionate towards them. When I do literary parody it's always with great affection because who am I? I'm just a hack. I love their eccentricity; I don't disapprove of them - I don't think you write this sort of exuberant, fun pastiche without enjoying them!"
"I'm fond of all the characters in Gloomsbury but of course it revolves around Vera - based on Vita Sackville-West, who I've always adored. I'm fascinated with her love of gardening and the fact that she's such a tomboy and dressed as a man and went off with her girlfriends. But I also loved Vera and Henry's marriage - the fact that they're passionately fond of each other. So I loved the character of Henry. He forms this comfortable, competent centre to every story. You have faith that Vera's is going to get into trouble and Henry's going to rescue her because he's the only real adult in the piece."
"Writing the Virginia Woolf character was more difficult because I knew that she had such a tragic history of mental illness so I wondered how we could have fun with her. But actually, Virginia was very funny in real life and when I heard the voice Alison Steadman had developed for it I was thrilled with it because she has a way of making it tremendously funny with her thought processes and her nervous hesitation."
"In fact the entire cast has been a dream and I've been very lucky that producer Jamie Rix involved me all along. We agreed right at the start that we wanted Miriam Margolyes to be involved - I think she's unparalleled as a radio actress. And it was like receiving a bunch of flowers when Alison Steadman and the others agreed to it too!"
"If you have good actors they will make the script 100% better. If you have bad actors they can ruin even a good script. The script doesn't live until it comes off the page and this cast can find humour and comedy in situations where even I didn't realise there was any! They can use a sigh or a turn of phrase or a hesitation - it's just marvellous. It's been a huge thrill to listen to them bringing my words off the page and so, so exciting."