Ian McKellen to star as LS Lowry in documentary revealing trove of unheard tapes | Ian McKellen
Fifteen years ago Sir Ian McKellen was among leading art figures to criticize the Tate for not displaying LS Lowry’s collection of paintings in its London galleries and to question whether the “matchstick male painter” had been cast aside as too northern and provincial.
Now, 50 years after Lowry’s death, McKellen will star in a BBC documentary that will reveal previously unheard audio tapes Lowry recorded during the last four years of his life in the 1970s.
The interview is the longest the artist has ever given, and was recorded in his living room, his “private sanctuary.” The tapes are said to reveal Lowry’s original voice, which McKellen will lip-sync on screen.
The Lancashire-born actor described the role as a “unique privilege”.
“These tapes reveal an intimate insight into the artist’s thoughts, ambitions, regrets and sense of humor. Anyone who, like me, admires his paintings and drawings will be moved and delighted to see the artist brought to life in his own words,” said McKellen.
Lowry is admired for his unique depictions of working-class city life, mill scenes, and industrial landscapes filled with distinctive matchstick men. He learned his craft at Manchester Municipal College of Art in the evenings and then at Salford School of Art while working as a rent collector during the day.
The tapes offer personal insight as he reminisces about his own life, discussing the experiences that shaped him from his childhood. The filmmakers noted the “surprising exchange” between the enigmatic artist and young fan Angela Barratt, whose interviews “captured Lowry in his most intimate, thoughtful moments.”
The documentary, titled LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes, is also promoted as a portrait of urban life in the north of England in the 20th century, exploring the transformation of Salford and Greater Manchester, the region that Lowry depicted so prolifically and whose changing industrial landscape profoundly influenced his work.
Richard Grossick, representing the Lowry estate, said: “It is fortunate that these impressive interview recordings have survived and are used in this way.”
He added of McKellen: “It is difficult to imagine another actor better equipped to channel the rhythmic appeal of Mr. Lowry’s distinctive bygone Lancastrian tones.”
Michael Simpson, visual arts director at the Lowry, a theater and gallery space in Salford that now houses the tapes, said the tapes revealed “an artist of intelligence, contradiction and perhaps surprising depth, far removed from the ‘simple man’ myth”.
In 2013 Tate Britain finally mounted a major Lowry exhibition; this exhibition was billed as the first of its kind to be held by a public institution since the artist’s death.
Lowry’s long-time admirers include Julian Spalding, who exhibited his work as director of galleries in Sheffield and Manchester at a time when the artist said he was “excluded” from London galleries and dismissed as a northern countryman.
Spalding has long accused the arts community of snobbish elitism towards Lowry because he came from the north of England and was popular with the public. He added: “Lowry was absolutely not allowed to be in the picture. But he was one of the great names of 20th-century British art and he was completely sidelined.”
The role of Angela will be played by Annabel Smith, who performed at the Royal Court theater in The Shitheads.
BBC Arts Arena documentary LS Lowry: Unheard Tapes It will be released soon on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.
