Derek Jarman: film-maker, painter, gardener at Prospect Cottage, gay rights activist, writer…his influence remains as strong as it was on the day AIDS killed him in 1994. But his story, one of the most extraordinary lives ever lived, has never been told. Until now.
This vibrant new solo play from Mark Farrelly (Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope) brings Derek back into being for a passionate, daring reminder of the courage it takes to truly live while you’re alive. A journey from Dungeness to deepest, brightest Soho and into the heart of one of our most iconoclastic artists.
Jarman’s works include taboo-breaking films like Sebastiane, Jubilee and Caravaggio, pop videos for the Pet Shop Boys (It’s A Sin and Rent), his extraordinary borderless garden in Dungeness, his shocking last paintings, and his unforgettable final film Blue, consisting of a single continuous frame of blue and chronicling what it’s like to lose your sight…but never your artistic vision.

Mark dazzled Catalyst Club audiences in 2022 and 2023 with his theatre shows exploring the lives of Quentin Crisp, Patrick Hamilton and Frankie Howerd and his partner Dennis Haymer. Jarman is the fourth of Mark’s quartet exploring the lives – both personal and creative – of pioneering queer artists.