Rachel Robbins

Joined April 2021

171 stories

Bio

Writer-Performer based in the North of England. A joyous, flawed mess.

Please read my stories and enjoy. And if you can, please leave a tip. Money raised will be used towards funding a one-woman story-telling, comedy show.

Achievements (6)

Stories (171)

Filter by community

Sort by (Optional)

The Trouble with Being a Femme Fatale. Top Story - October 2023.
“I was tussling with the most dangerous animal in the world – a woman” (Charles Hassell in Detour) I guess I've watched too many 1940s films. I've started thinking in shady black and white and plotting my revenge. There's no colour in my nightmares.
By Rachel Robbins2 years ago in Geeks
Fredi Washington (1903 – 1994)
“Early in my career it was suggested that I might get further by passing as French or something exotic. But to pass for economic or other advantages would have meant that I swallowed, whole hog, the idea of Black inferiority” (Fredi Washington in the Chicago Defender, 1945)
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Geeks
I’m not going to rant . Top Story - September 2023.
I’m not going to rant. Not this time. Yes, there’s another sex pest. Yes, he works in my industry. But I’m not going to rant. I’m going to write dark, delicious stories about secrets, desire and flying women.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Viva
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
“Hey, Rachel,” the 1970’s feminists in my head say, “If you want to be an imaginary 1940’s screen writer you have to watch Dorothy Arzner’s Dance, Girl, Dance”. I don’t want to disappoint the sisterhood, so I dutifully watch the film.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Geeks
Stage Door (1937)
If I’m going to take my dreams of being a sassy 1940s screen writer seriously I need to take a good hard look at the movies that came before. And that is why I treated myself to Stage Door (1937).
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Geeks
Scrapper (2023)
Many years ago (nearly three) I used to have a proper job as a social work researcher and educator. Whilst in that role I would often find myself watching films and reading books and thinking – should I recommend this to the students? It has been a glorious release not to think like that anymore.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Geeks
Lucy in a Nightie with Shoes on
Outside, the striptease of winter was coming to an end. Blossom looked frivolous. Her sense that the trees were having a better time fuelled frustration.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Fiction
It Happened One Night (1934). Top Story - August 2023.
I can hardly call myself a connoisseur of Classic Hollywood and the romantic comedy if I haven’t got an opinion on It Happened One Night (1934). The film is often considered the blue print for the romcom genre with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable setting the tone for the push and pull of the attraction across social divides for filmic eternity.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Geeks
It Happened One Night (1934)
Pre-code Hollywood brings feisty women and virile men, who save themselves for marriage (just). It is of its time and place.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Critique
Ida Lupino (1918 - 1995)
If you haven’t seen Barbie, you’ll have heard of it right? It’s big news. It is the female directed movie that has made $1billion, in just over a fortnight from release and is now heading towards the $2billion mark.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Geeks
David Baddiel and the Male Gaze
It was announced yesterday that David Baddiel – professional comic and opinion-haver – is to write a book about masculinity and The Male Gaze.
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Viva
Perfect Skin
This is my response to the Sweet Summer Challenge From Oneg and James. Challenge #1 Sweet Summer Song: Pick a song that represents summer for you. Use the song as the title of your piece, and to inspire either a poem or a short story/micro fiction about summer. Feel free to use some of the song's lyrics in your piece as well. So what does summer feel like for you? Click here
By Rachel Robbins3 years ago in Poets