About this event
The Two Roberts were two of the 20th century’s most brilliant artists. Collected by major galleries, photographed by Vogue, filmed by Ken Russell, they lived as hard as they worked… scandal was no stranger. Almost forgotten… until now.
Damian Barr’s ‘The Two Roberts’ is a fictional reimagining of the lifelong love between working-class artists Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun. They both won grants to the Glasgow School of Art, meeting on their first day and then becoming lovers. They spent the late 1940s living the bohemian lifestyle in Lewes in Sussex. They were friends and contemporaries of Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. Dylan Thomas adored them and Elizabeth Smart hired them as nannies (perhaps unwisely).
Tender, bold and deeply personal, ‘The Two Roberts’ is a timely love letter to these almost forgotten queer Scottish pioneers, exploring what it means to discover your voice as an artist, to find love when it’s forbidden and to change the way the world sees.
Damian Barr is a writer, broadcaster and charismatic host of his renowned Literary Salons. He is the author of the coming of age memoir ‘Maggie and Me’ and the much acclaimed novel ‘You will be Safe Here’ which is set during the Boer Wars.. He is a regular on Radio Four, at one time hosting ‘Front Row’.
