A deep blue background with a black figure silhouette
Past Event
Performance

WeTransfer presents: BLUE NOW

A live screening of Derek Jarman's 1993 film performed by Russell Tovey, Travis Alabanza, Jay Bernard and Joelle Taylor, directed by Neil Bartlett. Live event commissioned by: WePresent by WeTransfer
Sun 7 May 2023
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Directed by Neil Bartlett

Performed by Russell Tovey, Travis Alabanza, Jay Bernard, Joelle Taylor

Sound by Simon Fisher Turner

Produced by Fuel

If I lose half my sight, will my vision be halved?

BLUE was Derek Jarman's final film. Completed in May 1993, just months before his death, it is his testament. For 74 minutes, an unchanging screen of celestial blue is accompanied by voices which deliver a collage of fragments from Jarman's diary, describing the gradual onset of blindness as he battles with HIV. As his daily life is stripped away, only the essentials remain.

For this very special live screening, actor Russell Tovey and poet Joelle Taylor lead a cast of four performers to deliver Jarman's powerful words from the stage of the Theatre Royal, directed by Neil Bartlett; the film's original composer, Simon Fisher Turner, will accompany them with a new live score.

BLUE was created during the darkest days of the British AIDS epidemic, and bears witness not just to its creator's remarkable courage but also to the rage and loss of an entire generation. Thirty years to the month after it was completed, this new live rendition of the film will be a chance to hear afresh its inspiring message of compassion, love and dignity under fire.

Interview with Neil Bartlett

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The Cast of BLUE NOW

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