Writer
Ignoring the usual exorable teenaged poetry and the odd comic ode for family occasions, Adey began writing in 1998 with her first book Suddenly He Thinks He’s A Sunbeam. It was published in 2000 by SPCK and is the real-life story of what happened when her husband, ‘a perfectly normal, angst-ridden, atheistic, socialist hippy actor’ underwent a metamorphosis into a Church of England priest. The book has become a core text on many theological colleges’ reading lists was once preached upon at the opening of Synod by the Bishop of London.
At this point she took a left turn and has since been writing lyrics and libretti for a number of composers. A number of those that have made it to performance are:
- Diana Burrell - Love Song
- Stephen McNeff - There Once Was An Abbot of Angiers
- Orlando Gough - The Round Songs, In The Bleak Midwinter, The Number Seven
- Michael Henry - My Instant Echo, Transitions, Stairs and Crossings, Circus Tricks,
All Year Round - Alexander L'Estrange - And the Stones Sing
- Peter Reynolds - Urban Songs, Heartfelt Songs
- Melanie Pappenheim – Inside, Primrose’s Despatch
- Jonathan Williams - Jungle Jingles, Creation-The Fall
- Graham Coatman - The Peacock’s Pageant, Still Stories, What Shall We Do Now?, Rainbow Songs, The Winds
Other work as a lyricist include family day projects, a song writing project for Lambeth primary school children and song writing projects at the Hay Festival, all for ENO Baylis. She has performed her stories Adam’s Story and A Symphony Of Experiments in recitals with the great organ in Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.
In 2008 she was commissioned with Michael Henry by Tête à Tête for a short opera scena, The Agony Of The Knife Thrower’s Assistant. This was performed at the company’s Summer Festival that year. The piece then underwent further development in 2009 into a one act work, Circus Tricks, also performed in the Summer Festival. Tête à Tête have now re-commissioned the piece to be developed into a full-length opera which is planned for production in Spring 2012.
She has recently completed A Short And Anecdotal History Of St Matthew's, Bethnal Green which was released in July 2011.
Current writing projects include:
- study with David James and membership of the BML laboratory
- more lyrics for Stephen McNeff
- a co-written radio play with Pete Wyer
- another opera with Mike Henry (about death again)