Reflections of an Unsung Hero (1991). Photo by Colin Shantz.
REFLECTIONS OF
AN UNSUNG HERO
(1991)
Solo performance • Activism • Sound • TextA very special project, Reflections of an Unsung Hero was commissioned by writer and theatre director John Roman Baker to celebrate the life and activism of his recently deceased partner, Graham Wilkinson.
Graham was a tireless gay rights campaigner from the 1970s onwards and in the 1980s fought huge stigma and opposition to first set up Sussex AIDS Line, and then to open the Sussex AIDS Centre, a physical building based service of which he became founding Director. The significance of these events cannot be overstated. They were huge achievements, not least given the hostile environment of the time.
In the archives of the Queer Heritage South website, an entry written by friends and colleagues reads:
‘Graham Charles Wilkinson was one of small group of gay men in London who shared a vision for innovative new centres for people living with HIV in the UK. The group started to meet and talk about their ideas at the flat of Christopher Spence OBE, who’d later become director of the Lighthouse in Ladbroke Grove when it opened in 1986.
Graham was acutely aware that Brighton was desperate for services to help the growing numbers of people affected by the epidemic, so he set to work bringing the vision to the coast. Determined and courageous, Graham decided to quit his job to found the Sussex AIDS Helpline in a ‘grotty’ little office on Brighton’s Western Road in October 1987. In the early days, the helpline was a very hands-on affair with Graham and a few friends answering all the calls, but despite its humble beginnings, it soon became essential for anyone needing good advice, compassion and the facts.
Graham was a shy man who found the constant battles, resistance and stigma of the times hard to manage against the backdrop of his own illness. Sometimes the stress of the situation would get the better of him, but before long the light would appear in his face alongside an infectious giggle that anyone who knew him will never forget.’
Graham died surrounded by loved ones on 22 August 1990.
THE COMMISSION
A few months later, Graham’s partner, John Roman Baker, approached Robert to ask if he would create a performance to honour Graham’s life and work. The project would be presented by AIDS Positive Underground (APUTheatre), the company John ran with Rod Evans and which had previously presented Robert’s work Lust.
John’s commission brief was to make a radical live performance responding to the content of Graham’s diaries, which he gave Robert big photocopied bundles of. These spanned decades of Graham’s early Gay Liberation Front activism, his extensive AIDS activism, as well as his significant legacy from a lifetime of forcing for change.
Still a second year student at the time, Robert felt humbled to be asked, but also aware this was a no fail situation. So John brought in Colin Shantz, to work as an outside eye across the devising process and then as Director once a performance shape started to emerge. Between them, the pair created an intense hour long show, performed by Robert on a bare stage with minimal lighting. Rod worked on logistics and managed publicity, while John oversaw everything, giving this deeply personal project real energy.
ANOTHER HERO
Reflections of an Unsung Hero was created to be part of the 1991 Brighton Festival, but several sponsors withdrew funds from the festival in protest at the inclusion of the work and the very presence of AIDS Positive Underground in the programme. This created a storm of outrage, embarrassment within the festival administration and much public outcry. Determined not to be closed down the work went ahead anyway, due to the sheer determination of everyone involved in making the project, not least John and Rod for whom it was as personal as it gets. But someone else with significant clout also helped keep the work afloat, behind the scenes and without seeking anything public in return. Reflecting on this in his memoire, Abracadabra, Robert Pacitti writes:
‘The piece will be staged at the Marlborough, a small theatre space above a popular gay bar. As the performance date approaches we receive word that the Brighton Festival – who are presenting the show – have cold feet about including a piece on AIDS, and so have pulled it from their programme. That evening, whilst talking it all through in a local gay pub, we are interrupted by a man who tells us he is a journalist and couldn’t help but overhearing. He explains he may be able to help and asks to meet me the next day to discuss it - smooth. What transpires is a moment I cherish.
The big headliner of the Brighton Festival is counter-cultural icon Lindsay Kemp, known for his own lavish stage performances, for heavily influencing David Bowie and Kate Bush, and for starring in cult film The Wicker Man. The journalist spoke with Lindsay about Reflections of an Unsung Hero being pulled, who as result asked to meet me. So it is that on a rainy Wednesday morning, I go alone to a smart hotel on Brighton seafront, where at 11am Lindsay Kemp is sitting in a high wing-backed chair drinking a large gin and tonic. Studying me carefully, he asks about the situation with the show, some questions about my work, and about my hopes for the future. He then nods at an extremely handsome man standing guard beside him, who takes out £500 in crisp £50 notes and hands them to me.
‘Go out into the world and do whatever it takes’, says Lindsay.
With that he smiles, raises his glass, gets up and leaves.’
Reflections of an Unsung Hero was performed for three nights at The Marlborough Theatre in Brighton. No known video exists of the performance. A poster, ticket stub, a couple of photographs taken onstage during a final rehearsal, the programme and two reviews are all that now remain from this very special project.
Reflections of an Unsung Hero (1991). Photo by Colin Shantz.
Reflections of an Unsung Hero (1991). Photo by Colin Shantz.
Reflections of an Unsung Hero (1991). Programme cover.
Reflections of an Unsung Hero (1991). Ticket stub, Queer South East Archive (Harry Pygar).
DOCUMENTS
Reflections Of An Unsung Hero - Programme
CREDITS
Premiere: 26 May 1991
Place: Marlborough Theatre, Brighton
Duration: 60 minutes
Writers: Colin Shantz, Robert Pacitti
Performer: Robert Pacitti
Director: Colin Shantz
Stage Manager: Peter Bray
Visuals: Eve Bentley
Lighting: Liz Hall
Sound: Andru
Sound Engineer: Julian Weaver
Costume: Liz Hall
Mouth light: Rob Clutterham
Stage design: Peter Davies
Set design: Colin Shantz, Robert Pacitti
Poster photography: Toby Deveson
Poster design: Robert Pacitti
Programme: Fiona Walker
Press and PR: Rod Evans
Producers: Colin Shantz, Robert Pacitti
Co-producers: APUTheatre
Commission: John Roman Baker for APUT
Supported by: Lindsay Kemp
Special thanks: John, Rod, and Colin.