Henry Bird

Anglia Television documentary charting the life and works of artist Henry Bird.

Standing outside, presenter Jeananne Crowley describes the Royal Theatre, Northampton as “a traditional sort of a theatre. Just the place to see a proper, or even an improper play”. On stage two actors portray characters Charles Dyer and Harry C. Leeds in a scene from playwright Charles Dyer’s, "Staircase". The Henry Bird-designed safety curtain drops down at the interval, to the sound of applause. Described as an “unexpected pleasure” by Crowley, intimate close-ups of Dyer’s curtain including vignette portraits from the history of the theatre are shown. Crowley interviews the artist Henry Bird from the red velvet seats of the stalls. Bird notes that undertaking large scale works like this does not intimidate him. What to paint on the curtain was chosen by garnering the opinions of those involved with the theatre and the town’s history. The camera tracks medallions of luminaries from the theatre, and close-ups of characters within the body of the work. Henry explains that he persuaded the fire services that the words “SAFETY CURTAIN” could be placed at the curtain’s foot. Examples of Bird’s work fill the interior walls of Denton Church. Bird’s vast Biblical murals are presented to the sound of organ music. Bird believes that by not painting the traditional saints he was “re-ordering the church”. Bird walks along a busy Northampton street, enters the house and goes upstairs to his crowded attic studio. He works on a large unfinished piece. Harp music accompanies a tracking shot of copious sketches and paintings and close-ups of female nudes, which were “drawn for love not money”. In the studio Bird and his friend Margaret, draw a reclining female nude.

Featured Buildings

Royal Theatre Northampton; Denton Church

Keywords

Art; Painting; Murals; Theatre; Church; Nudes; Artists

Other Places

Northampton

Background Information

Folio (1980 - 1990) was an Anglia Television series of programmes looking at the talents of artists in the Anglia broadcasting region. “Staircase” is a two-character play by Charles Dyer about an ageing gay couple who own a barber shop in the East End of London. One of them is a part-time actor about to go on trial for propositioning a police officer. The action takes place over the course of one night as they discuss their loving but often volatile past together and possible future without each other. The playwright named his characters Charles Dyer (after himself) and Harry C. Leeds, which is an anagram of his name. Wikipedia A major mural was Bird's fire curtain for the Royal Theatre in Northampton (1977). Henry regarded the words ‘safety curtain’ as instructions from the Fire Authority and preferred the words 'sipario dipinto' (painted separator) for the work. This mural includes a series of vignette portraits of those who had been involved at the theatre, among them Henry’s wife Freda and Errol Flynn - but with each on the opposite side of the proscenium. turnipnet.com