Nuts in May
Encyclopedia
Nuts in May is a television film devised and directed by Mike Leigh
, originally broadcast as part of the BBC
's Play for Today
series on 13 January 1976. It is the comical story of a nature-loving and rather self-righteous couple's exhausting battle to enjoy what they perceive to be the idyllic camping holiday. Misunderstandings, awkward clashes of values and explosive conflicts occur when less high-minded guests pitch their tents nearby.
) and eccentric Keith (Roger Sloman
), arrive at the campsite and pitch their tent in a quiet spot suitable for appreciating nature's wonders while keeping other human beings safely at arm's length. Their usual routine (which includes performing their own guitar-banjo compositions, preparing healthy vegetarian dinners and following the Country Code
) is rudely interrupted by Ray (Anthony O'Donnell
), a lone student who camps down nearby and switches on his radio which is treated by the couple as an unforgivable crime and they force Ray to turn it off. Later, on the way home after a trip to Stair Hole
, it begins to rain and the couple notice a figure (which turns out to be Ray) walking along the road and give him a lift home.
Their relationship becomes increasingly tense and tempers flare when Keith notices Candice Marie exhibiting an unseemly interest in Ray's well-being - "she crawls into his tent to show him stones she has collected on the beach; Keith explodes with jealous rage after spying on them from behind the bushes with his binoculars, like a character in a farce
." Later, Ray is asked to take a photograph
of the couple but is patronised by Keith and Candice Marie and is forced to participate in a song
at Keith's behest. As soon as some kind of order seems to have been restored, Brummie
couple Finger and Honky arrive on their motorbike, equipped with an army tent, a football and a fondness for late-night drinking. Needless to say, Keith is tested to the limit. Finally, Keith and Candice Marie leave the campsite after an intense argument over Finger's plans to light a fire to cook some sausages. Keith highly objects to this, as it contravenes the rules of the site, and resorts to violence in order to stop it.
, communication skills and understanding of human nature
required to have them willingly acknowledge their mistakes. Also, while Keith becomes irritated with almost every human contact others seem to be able to deal with others without these problems. 'Better than being at home, innit', utters Finger to Honky after one particularly fierce bust up that leaves Keith incandescent. This particularly resonates since Finger, a plasterer, has already confessed to Ray that, because of the shortage of new housing, there is little work available. The couple find peace only when they pitch their tent in a farmer's field, away from other people.
It is also interesting to note the parent-child style relationship between Keith and Candice Marie, who appear not to have any form of sexual relationship at all. Candice Marie - who works in a toy shop - takes on the role of the innocent child - (she composes little poems and songs and goes to bed with a fluffy blue hot water bottle called Prudence) - one who needs looking after and who is constantly confused and intrigued by her surroundings. Likewise, Keith assumes a paternal role, planning out their trip with almost militaristic precision.
area of Dorset
in South West England
. The characters visit a number of significant points of interest including Corfe Castle, Stair Hole
, Kimmeridge
, Lulworth Cove
and the Jurassic Coast
, a World Heritage Site
. The location was chosen at the suggestion of the producer David Rose
, who came from Purbeck: "I told him about the quarries in the district and asked him to film everything out of doors, under the skies; he reneged only slightly on this condition - there is one sequence of about one minute twenty seconds, in the Greyhound pub near Corfe Castle, and one short scene in a toilet. Apart from that, the only interiors are those of some very small tents." The camp site used for filming was Woodland Camping Park, just outside Corfe Castle and is still used as a camp site today.
's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
. Despite being one of Mike Leigh's lesser known films, Nuts in May is highly regarded and often quoted, and as such it could be said to have achieved cult status
. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer
chose the film to end At Home with Vic and Bob (1993), which was an evening of programmes scheduled by the duo.
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
, originally broadcast as part of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
series on 13 January 1976. It is the comical story of a nature-loving and rather self-righteous couple's exhausting battle to enjoy what they perceive to be the idyllic camping holiday. Misunderstandings, awkward clashes of values and explosive conflicts occur when less high-minded guests pitch their tents nearby.
Plot summary
The main couple, childlike Candice Marie (Alison SteadmanAlison Steadman
Alison Steadman OBE is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective,...
) and eccentric Keith (Roger Sloman
Roger Sloman
Roger Sloman is an English actor. Born in the Harlesden district of London, he has performed in dozens of television and film appearances since the late 1970s...
), arrive at the campsite and pitch their tent in a quiet spot suitable for appreciating nature's wonders while keeping other human beings safely at arm's length. Their usual routine (which includes performing their own guitar-banjo compositions, preparing healthy vegetarian dinners and following the Country Code
The Country Code
The Country Code, The Countryside Code and The Scottish Outdoor Access Code are sets of rules for visitors to rural, and especially agricultural, regions of the United Kingdom...
) is rudely interrupted by Ray (Anthony O'Donnell
Anthony O'Donnell
Anthony O'Donnell is a Welsh actor. In 1982, he was awarded the London Critic's Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer in the Stratford Season.-Filmography:*Knock for Knock *Nuts in May *The Sweeney...
), a lone student who camps down nearby and switches on his radio which is treated by the couple as an unforgivable crime and they force Ray to turn it off. Later, on the way home after a trip to Stair Hole
Stair Hole
Stair Hole is a cove that is forming just to the west of Lulworth Cove in Dorset, southern England. In a few hundred thousand years it may be as large as nearby Lulworth Cove. The folded limestone strata known as the Lulworth crumple are particularly visible at Stair Hole. Stair hole featured in...
, it begins to rain and the couple notice a figure (which turns out to be Ray) walking along the road and give him a lift home.
Their relationship becomes increasingly tense and tempers flare when Keith notices Candice Marie exhibiting an unseemly interest in Ray's well-being - "she crawls into his tent to show him stones she has collected on the beach; Keith explodes with jealous rage after spying on them from behind the bushes with his binoculars, like a character in a farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
." Later, Ray is asked to take a photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
of the couple but is patronised by Keith and Candice Marie and is forced to participate in a song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
at Keith's behest. As soon as some kind of order seems to have been restored, Brummie
Brummie
Brummie is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, England, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum...
couple Finger and Honky arrive on their motorbike, equipped with an army tent, a football and a fondness for late-night drinking. Needless to say, Keith is tested to the limit. Finally, Keith and Candice Marie leave the campsite after an intense argument over Finger's plans to light a fire to cook some sausages. Keith highly objects to this, as it contravenes the rules of the site, and resorts to violence in order to stop it.
Themes
In keeping with Leigh's other films, Nuts in May serves as a commentary on many of the daily issues faced by normal people, in this case with particular emphasis on neighbour relations. Keith may have the full weight of the law on his side when he reprimands the other campers for their thoughtless, and sometimes reckless, behaviour, but he lacks the compassionCompassion
Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.There is an aspect of...
, communication skills and understanding of human nature
Human nature
Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally....
required to have them willingly acknowledge their mistakes. Also, while Keith becomes irritated with almost every human contact others seem to be able to deal with others without these problems. 'Better than being at home, innit', utters Finger to Honky after one particularly fierce bust up that leaves Keith incandescent. This particularly resonates since Finger, a plasterer, has already confessed to Ray that, because of the shortage of new housing, there is little work available. The couple find peace only when they pitch their tent in a farmer's field, away from other people.
It is also interesting to note the parent-child style relationship between Keith and Candice Marie, who appear not to have any form of sexual relationship at all. Candice Marie - who works in a toy shop - takes on the role of the innocent child - (she composes little poems and songs and goes to bed with a fluffy blue hot water bottle called Prudence) - one who needs looking after and who is constantly confused and intrigued by her surroundings. Likewise, Keith assumes a paternal role, planning out their trip with almost militaristic precision.
Cast (alphabetical)
- Eric Allan as Quarryman
- Stephen Bill as Finger
- Richenda CareyRichenda CareyRichenda Carey is an English theatre, television and film actress, who is mostly known for her roles in Monarch of the Glen, Jeeves and Wooster, Crush and most recently, Separate Lies and Criminal Justice...
as Miss Beale - Matthew GuinnessMatthew GuinnessMatthew Guinness is an English actor. He plays The Farmer in the 1976 film Nuts in May, appears in Ridley Scott's The Duellists and had a small role in 1987's Lady Jane. He has also worked extensively in theatre....
as Farmer - Richard Ireson as Policeman
- Sheila Kelley as Honky
- Anthony O'DonnellAnthony O'DonnellAnthony O'Donnell is a Welsh actor. In 1982, he was awarded the London Critic's Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer in the Stratford Season.-Filmography:*Knock for Knock *Nuts in May *The Sweeney...
as Ray - Roger SlomanRoger SlomanRoger Sloman is an English actor. Born in the Harlesden district of London, he has performed in dozens of television and film appearances since the late 1970s...
as Keith - Alison SteadmanAlison SteadmanAlison Steadman OBE is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective,...
as Candice Marie - Sally Watts as Farm-Girl
Locations
The film is set, and was filmed in its entirety, in the geologically and historically rich Isle of PurbeckIsle of Purbeck
The Isle of Purbeck, not a true island but a peninsula, is in the county of Dorset, England. It is bordered by the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well...
area of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
in South West England
South West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
. The characters visit a number of significant points of interest including Corfe Castle, Stair Hole
Stair Hole
Stair Hole is a cove that is forming just to the west of Lulworth Cove in Dorset, southern England. In a few hundred thousand years it may be as large as nearby Lulworth Cove. The folded limestone strata known as the Lulworth crumple are particularly visible at Stair Hole. Stair hole featured in...
, Kimmeridge
Kimmeridge
Kimmeridge is a small village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated on the English Channel coast. Kimmeridge is about south of Wareham and about west of Swanage and is on the Isle of Purbeck...
, Lulworth Cove
Lulworth Cove
Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the world's finest examples of such a landform, and is a tourist location with over 1 million visitors a year...
and the Jurassic Coast
Jurassic Coast
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....
, a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
. The location was chosen at the suggestion of the producer David Rose
David Rose (producer)
David E. Rose is a retired television producer and commissioning editor.Following war service as a RAF pilot of Lancaster Bombers on 34 missions, he trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Drama, but following graduation pursued a career in stage management...
, who came from Purbeck: "I told him about the quarries in the district and asked him to film everything out of doors, under the skies; he reneged only slightly on this condition - there is one sequence of about one minute twenty seconds, in the Greyhound pub near Corfe Castle, and one short scene in a toilet. Apart from that, the only interiors are those of some very small tents." The camp site used for filming was Woodland Camping Park, just outside Corfe Castle and is still used as a camp site today.
Reputation
Nuts in May was ranked 49th in the British Film InstituteBritish Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
. Despite being one of Mike Leigh's lesser known films, Nuts in May is highly regarded and often quoted, and as such it could be said to have achieved cult status
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer
Vic and Bob
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer , more commonly known simply as Vic and Bob or Reeves and Mortimer, are a British comedy double act...
chose the film to end At Home with Vic and Bob (1993), which was an evening of programmes scheduled by the duo.