Jarman of delight
MARK FARRELLY TELLS DAVE FREAK ABOUT BRINGING THE COLOURFUL LIFE OF DEREK JARMAN TO THE STAGE
DESPITE being one of Britain’s most creative and individual filmmakers and artists, there’s never been a stage biography of Derek Jarman’s eventful life until now, 27 years after his death.
Having created acclaimed productions exploring the lives of comedian Frankie Howerd (Howerd’s End), and writers Patrick Hamilton (Silence Of Snow) and Quentin Crisp (Naked Hope), actor/ playwright Mark Farrelly now turns his attention to the radical auteur for the simply titled Jarman.
‘Derek lived for 52 years, and in my 80-minute show w you get his whole story, the e complete whirlwind!’ nd!’ explains Mark of his ambitious one-man production. ‘It was an incredible life: artist, designer, writer, gardener, film-maker, activist st and inspiration.’
Described as ‘the e maverick radical of f the British cinema’, Derek attended art school in the 1960s, moving from painting and stage work into cinema. His debut feature, 1976’s Sebastiane, broke boundaries for its open portrayal of homosexual desire, while 1977’s Jubilee (starring Toyah and Adam Ant) is a punk landmark, yet his biggest success came with 1986’s Caravaggio, which introduced both Tilda Swinton and Sean Bean to the screen. A restless creative, he also shot pop videos for The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys, and fashioned a remarkable garden in windy Dungeness (recently saved by campaigners). An all-too-rare ‘out’ voice, he passed away in 1994 of AIDS-related illness, continuing to create till the end.
‘I was first attracted by his diaries, which capture his later years in such gossamer-beautiful language,’ says Mark. ‘He knew he was dying when he wrote them, and his entire attitude to that was: right, how do I make every remaining second count?
‘Most of us drift through our lives in a coma, insulated from feeling, and therefore from living. It’s tragic. Derek resisted resiste that with every fibre of his h being, and for that th I admire him vastly.
‘I was amazed that nobody no had portrayed po his life before be and was delighted de when his estate es gave me the go-ahead goto create something, som with full access to his written works,’ Mark M continues. ‘We’ve created crea a very fluid piece which uses light, sound and words to move between all the locations of the story, whether it’s Soho, Dungeness or St. Bart’s Hospital. There’s only me and a chair on the stage. We wanted the challenge of making something out of nothing, at which Derek himself was so beguilingly adept.’
Visiting Birmingham’s Old Joint Stock Theatre, it’s Mark’s second appearance at the venue, after October’s successful run for Howerd’s End – a study of the relationship between comic Frankie Howerd (Simon Cartwright) and Dennis Heymer (Mark).
‘I’ve always liked Frankie Howerd, but it was his relationship with his secret partner Dennis that interested me most. Frankie took Dennis for granted for many years, and I think a lot of us do that with the loved ones in our life – treat them like a piece of furniture until it’s too late. I wanted to address that. And redress it – make people question their own capacity for connection. Who on their death bed says “I wish I’d loved less”?’
While most actors perform runs of productions, Mark tours all his four shows concurrently. ‘It’s wonderful to juggle!’ he says of swapping playing Jarman, Dennis, Quentin and Patrick every few days. ‘You have to concentrate so hard that there isn’t time to get nervous, you’re too busy! So it’s wonderfully freeing. Imagine eating exactly the same meal every night. Or, playing the same theatre role every night. It becomes boring after a time, whereas switching constantly keeps you match-sharp.’
With Frankie, Derek and Quentin it would be easy to see the three pieces as linked, but Mark disagrees. ‘It’s tempting, but no,’ he says firmly. ‘They were all gay, but I barely noticed that, I’m much more interested in their soul.
‘I would say that they all met the inevitable suffering of life with great courage, wit and humanity. They offer a heck of a lot of wisdom about how to deal with life.’ n Wed to Sun, Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham,
markfarrelly.co.uk