Derek Jarman: MODERN NATURE The Prospect Cottage Diaries, directed by James Dacre will be performed live in the Barbican Hall.
In 1989, shortly after his HIV diagnosis and his father’s death, Derek Jarman left the bustling chaos of London for a simple life on the barren Kent coast. He lived there with his partner Keith Collins in a derelict Victorian fisherman’s hut called Prospect Cottage that stood in the shadow of Dungeness power station. Painting the front room a translucent yellow and replacing the doors with blue velvet curtains, he set about creating an extraordinary garden around the only living thing there: a gnarled century-old pear tree.Â
Facing an uncertain future, Jarman wrote Modern Nature: a diary capturing how he found solace in the natural world by experimenting with growing a wide range of plants. If a garden can be grown amongst the pebbles of a stony, windswept beach overlooked by a power station, then surely it can be made anywhere?
Living Productions adapt these diaries in a unique tribute to the acclaimed artist, author and activist which combines spoken work, original music and artwork and footage from his Super 8 Films.
James Dacre directs a company of leading actors including Olly Alexander, Jessie Buckley, Omari Douglas, Shaun Evans, Jessica Walker and Will Young in readings from Modern Nature with original compositions from Valgeir Sigurðsson, Max Richter, Kele Okereke and Simon Fisher Turner interspersed by songs setting Jarman’s poetry to music by Donna McKevitt performed by Nils Wanderer and Penelope Appleyard and Clare Stewart of APOLLO5. Soloists include Joseph Atkins, Roger Chase and Rosie Banks-Francis.
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The evening will be accompanied by footage from Jarman’s Super 8 Films, artwork of Prospect Cottage by Gilbert McCarragher and Susan Thomson and an evocative sound design by David Gregory incorporating original recordings of Jarman’s poetry by Tilda Swinton.
