SMHAFF P H O T O
I
: J A N N C A H O N E Y
INTERSTELLAR overdrive
Rebecca Monks chats to Alan Bissett about his new commission for the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, a play about the life of Syd Barrett
‘C an I ask you something?’ Alan Bissett says to the barista, as he brings the coffee to our table. ‘Do you know who Syd Barrett is?’ The answer is no, he doesn’t, and Bissett nods his head. ‘But have you heard of Pink Floyd?’
Of course he’d heard of Pink Floyd: most people with ears and even the vaguest interest in music have. ‘That kind of proves my point,’ Bissett says: the point being that though Pink Floyd are one of the most famous bands in history, their founding member and one-time frontman Syd Barrett is not necessarily a household name. Barrett was at the helm of Pink Floyd when they released their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. He has been credited with naming the band, and in the early days was their lead singer, principal songwriter and lead guitarist. When fame knocked on the band’s door, however, he was ready to latch the bolt, turn off the lights and wait for fame to move on to the next house.
Barrett wanted to make good art, and he did, but he struggled. He struggled with poor mental health, the pressure of being in the public eye, and ultimately, it affected him and his performances. He was excluded from Pink Floyd in 1968, and while they went on to achieve unimaginable fame, he kept himself well out of the limelight, staying that way until his death in 2006.
It’s an interesting, harrowing story, and Bissett is ready to tell it. His new play, One Thinks of it All as a Dream, is the i rst theatre commission from the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, starring Euan Cuthbertson as Barrett (pictured above) and directed by long-term Bissett collaborator Sacha Kyle.
Bissett’s research led him back to the late 60s, when Barrett was beginning to struggle with the lifestyle fame had dumped on his doorstep. ‘It was 1967,’ Bissett explains. ‘He was taking a phenomenal amount of LSD, and if you’ve already got underlying mental health problems, then LSD isn’t really the drug for you. He just had a complete breakdown and the band suddenly found themselves with this problem: their main singer, songwriter, frontman was incapable of performing on stage. ‘He was this darling of the underground. He was beautiful, he had this corkscrew hair, and as a songwriter, singer, and guitarist was incredibly talented. He was a brilliant mind, unique in all sorts of ways. When Pink Floyd found themselves in the top ten albums charts, he completely retreated from it. He hated it, he was in it for the music. After that he had this slow decline, recorded scratchy solo albums, and then disappeared.
‘He went back to Cambridge, moved in with his
mum and lived there until his death in 2006. The world never heard from him again. He completely checked out, and there’s no other story like that in rock history. You’ve got suicides and early deaths, but nobody who just checks out from fame completely. He just said, “no” to it all, and that in itself is fascinating.’
Barrett’s mental health is at the forefront of the play, which is in turn at the forefront of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. The full programme will be announced on 6 September, but includes theatre, i lm, talks and workshops. ‘It’s good because i rst of all you can explore mental health creatively,’ says Bissett, explaining why SMHAFF is important. ‘If people see art work about any kind of theme they think about it in a different way. It very visibly gets people talking about it. The way I’ve always thought about it is, if you go through your entire life without any mental health problems, there’s something wrong with you.’
One Thinks of it All as a Dream, Òran Mór, Glasgow, Mon 17–Sat 22 Oct; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Mon 24–Sat 29 Oct. The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival programme is released on Tue 6 Sep.
1 Sep–3 Nov 2016 THE LIST 23