Editing Lee Hall (playwright) (section)

==Career==
Hall's most commercially successful work is ''[[Billy Elliot]]'', the story of a [[North East England|North Eastern English]] boy who, in the face of opposition from his family and community, aspires to be a ballet dancer. The inspiration for the screenplay was drawn, in part, from the [[A. J. Cronin]] novel ''[[The Stars Look Down]]'', which is also set in an English coal mining community during a [[strike action|strike]], and similarly tells the story of a miner's son who goes against the grain.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/s2.cfm?id=1432002 |title=Bill and Lee's excellent adventures |work=The Scotsman |location=Edinburgh |date=2 January 2002 |access-date=29 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021030701/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/s2.cfm?id=1432002 |archive-date=21 October 2007}}</ref> The character Billy was also partly inspired by the renowned [[baritone]] [[Thomas Allen (baritone)|Sir Thomas Allen]] who came from a similar background, having been born in the North East's [[County Durham]].<ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=Whitley |url =https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3667821/If-Billy-Elliot-had-been-a-painter.-.-..html | title =If Billy Elliot had been a painter... |work=The Telegraph|location=London |date=10 September 2007 |access-date=29 November 2009}}</ref> Initially a 2000 film directed by [[Stephen Daldry]], for which Hall wrote the screenplay, and for which he received an [[Academy Award]] nomination, ''Billy Elliot'' was later turned into [[Billy Elliot the Musical|a stage musical]], with music by [[Elton John]] and lyrics by Hall. It enjoyed a long run in the West End and opened on Broadway in 2008. It won Hall the 2009 [[Tony Award]] for [[Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical|Best Book of a Musical]].

Also successful was ''[[Spoonface Steinberg]]'', the tale of a young autistic Jewish girl who is dying of cancer. The last in a quartet of [[radio play]]s entitled ''God's Country'', the monologue aroused an unprecedented listener response when it was broadcast in 1997 on [[BBC Radio]]. It was subsequently voted one of the ten best radio dramas of all time by readers of the magazine ''[[Radio Times]]''. ''Spoonface Steinberg'' was adapted as a television play and into a [[one man show|one woman show]] starring 42-year-old actress [[Kathryn Hunter]]. The play opened in 1999 and later transferred to the West End.

Hall had more limited success with his comedy ''[[Cooking with Elvis]]'', the protagonist of which is an [[Elvis Presley impersonator]] who has been paralyzed in a car crash. It was originally a 1995 radio play but it became a stage play in 1999. Hall's fondness for moving from one medium to another can also be seen in his work ''[[I Luv You Jimmy Spud]]'', which began as a 1995 radio play and was later adapted by Hall into a stage play and a film, ''[[Gabriel and Me]]'', starring [[Billy Connolly]] and [[Iain Glen]].

He has also translated plays by [[Carlo Goldoni]], [[Bertolt Brecht]] and [[Herman Heijermans]] and co-written the screenplays for adaptations of [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)|Pride & Prejudice]]'' and [[Kenneth Grahame]]'s ''[[The Wind in the Willows (2006 film)|The Wind in the Willows]]''.

Hall's play, ''[[The Pitmen Painters (play)|The Pitmen Painters]]'', inspired by art critic [[William Feaver]]'s book on the [[Ashington Group]], premiered at the refurbished [[Live Theatre Company|Live Theatre]] in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] in 2007. It tells of a group of miners from [[Ashington, Northumberland|Ashington]], [[Northumberland]], who decide to learn about art and begin to paint. The production later transferred to the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] in London and opened on Broadway in September 2010. It won the 2008 [[Evening Standard Award for Best Play]].

In 2011, controversy arose over a children's opera that Hall had written, called ''Beached''. The opera was commissioned by [[Opera North]] and was to have been performed by children from Bay Primary School in [[Bridlington]], [[East Riding of Yorkshire]]. The story is about a gay retired painter, a single father who tries to spend a quiet day at the seaside with his son, but who is interrupted by children on a school trip, dogs, a landscape painter, an amateur dramatic society and others. After rehearsals had been going on for six months, the school threatened to pull the children out of the production if changes were not made to the libretto. Hall changed some words to accommodate their requests, but school officials, supported by Opera North, insisted on the removal of the words "I'm queer" and "I prefer a lad to a lass," and other references to the character being gay.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Lee |last=Hall |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/jul/03/lee-hall-opera-north |date=3 July 2011 |title=Lee Hall: 'I will fight this' |location=London}}</ref> The school eventually agreed to let the children perform if Hall changed "queer" to "gay."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14064060 |date=7 July 2011 |work=BBC News |title=Homophobia row opera to go ahead}}</ref>

Hall was the original writer on the screenplay for a film adaptation of [[Michael Morpurgo]]'s ''[[War Horse (novel)|War Horse]]''; he shares credit on the finished film with [[Richard Curtis]], who was brought in by [[Steven Spielberg]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://readperiodicals.com/201112/2580578311.html |title=War Horse - Empire |access-date=2012-02-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511042159/http://www.readperiodicals.com/201112/2580578311.html |archive-date=11 May 2012}}</ref> His most recent TV work is an adaptation of [[Nigel Slater]]'s Autobiography ''[[Toast (film)|Toast]]'', starring [[Helena Bonham Carter]] and [[Freddie Highmore]] and set in [[Wolverhampton]], West Midlands. First broadcast on [[BBC One]] in December 2010, ''Toast'' received a gala at the 2011 [[Berlin Film Festival]] and was released in cinemas on 11 August 2011. He also worked on the screenplay for the yet-to-release [[Working Title Films|Working Title]] film ''[[Hippie Hippie Shake]]'', based on [[Richard Neville (writer)|Richard Neville]]'s memoir ''Hippie Hippie Shake: The Dreams, the Trips, the Trials, the Love-ins, the Screw Ups: The Sixties''.

Hall's other projects include a [[biopic]] of [[Elton John]], ''[[Rocketman (film)|Rocketman]]'',<ref>{{cite news |title=Elton John's life to get big screen treatment|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15022726|work=BBC News|date=22 September 2011 |access-date=25 November 2011}}</ref> released in May 2019, a stage musical adaptation of [[Pink Floyd]]'s ''[[The Wall]]'',<ref>{{cite news |title=Roger Waters rebuilds The Wall|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/roger-waters-rebuilds-the-wall/story-e6frf9hf-1226084398294|work=Herald Sun|date=30 June 2011 |access-date=25 November 2011}}</ref> and a film adaptation of [[George Orwell]]'s 1933 memoir ''[[Down and Out in Paris and London]]''.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17562252 | work=BBC News | title=Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall adapts George Orwell | date=30 March 2012}}</ref>