Tipping the Velvet
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Tipping the Velvet is a novel written by Sarah Waters and published by Virago. It tells the story of Nancy Astley, an oyster girl from the English town of Whitstable, who falls in love with a stage performer named Kitty Butler. The book, like the rest of Waters' novels, has a strong lesbian theme, though Tipping the Velvet in particular deals very candidly with the topic of lesbian sex and desire along with the role that economic class can play in oppression. The peculiar title derives from a Victorian era euphemism for cunnilingus.
Television adaptation
Tipping the Velvet was made into a British television drama serial, originally screened in three episodes on the BBC Two network in the autumn of 2002. It was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Sally Head Productions, and starred Rachael Stirling as Nancy Astley, coming of age and coming to terms with her sexuality in the 1890s. Also starring was actress Keeley Hawes as Kitty Butler, well-known for her role in the BBC thriller series Spooks, and Jodhi May as Florence, who has since played Anne Boleyn in the BBC dramatisation of Philippa Gregory's historical novel The Other Boleyn Girl.
Directed by Geoffrey Sax, Tipping the Velvet was adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies. The production was made available on DVD by BBC Worldwide soon after broadcast.
Cast
- Rachael Stirling as Nan(cy)
- Keeley Hawes as Kitty
- Jodhi May as Florence
- Anna Chancellor as Diana Lethaby