Drama
Christopher Wintle assumed the nom de plume Simone Belcampo in 2015 when he took up dramatic writing alongside his scholarly work. ‘Simone’ derives from Wintle’s second name, ‘Simon’, and ‘Belcampo’ from his grandmother’s maiden name ‘Beecham’, translated via beau champ (fine field) into bel campo. (Olive Beecham’s brother, the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, thought an assumed foreign name opened more doors than an English one). Belcampo gathers his theatrical writings under the umbrella of The Players’ Handbook, which sets out to explore the various dramatic genres from the perspective of psychology – in the well-known distinction of Archilochus, he may be the fox who knows many things, yet he is also the hedgehog preoccupied with one big thing. His style is forensic, witty and charged.
The following (selective) list includes those works that are currently available.
![Revue of Time [2015]](https://leadwortarts.co.uk/media/Revue_of_Time.png)
Revue of Time [2015], verse drama in three acts and fifteen scenes, 2020, iv + 106 pp.
The Afterlife of Bertolt Brecht. A modern picaresque in two acts with a prologue and an epilogue, 2017, vi + 186 pp.
In Love and War. ‘Dudley Man’ and ‘Country Matter’s, two [one-act] comedies for two men and a woman [2019], and eight women [2018], 2023, x + 94 pp.
Phantoms, two linked chamber plays [each in one act]: ‘Iphianassa’, a mythic fantasy for three women (2019), and ‘The Oliphant’, a tragi-comic fantasy for three men (2019), 2023, x + 78 pp.
To Chop off Your Head. A tragi-comic conundrum in four acts [2021], 2023, viii + 88 pp.
A Chekhov Triptych: ‘The Harm in Tobacco’, ‘Betrothed’ and ‘Thieves’, 2022, viii + 80 pp.
If Drama Be the Love of Food. Eight plays to accompany a meal, with an appendix from Cervantes: ‘Danish with Icing’ (3M and 2W), ‘Buttered Parsnips’ (4m and 2W), ‘O Happy Country. [Three] scenes from Thomas Shadwell’ (3 M, 3W and extras), ‘Dagda is My God’ (2M), ‘Dangling Participle’ (1M and 1W) and ‘Centauresse’ (2W), ‘Dancing in the Round’ (3M, 3W and musicians); ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’, (9M and 2W) after William Shakespeare; and ‘The Show of Marvels’ (8M, 3W and Sundry extras) by Miguel de Cervantes, 2024, x + 212 pp.
Tell Us Some Truths about Love. Dramatic scenes for a man, a woman and various extras, 2026 (forthcoming)
