The Arbor

Director Clio Barnard
Country UK

Drawing on verbatim theatre – the use of the real words of interviewees rather than scripted words from a playwright’s head – The Arbor tells the story of Andrea Dunbar, who wrote three critically acclaimed plays about life on the infamous Buttershaw Estate in Bradford, before dying of a brain hemorrhage in her local pub at the age of 29. She left behind young daughters Lisa and her older sister Lorraine, who is a central character in the film. I say “character” because although the film’s director, Clio Barnard accumulated over 90 hours interviews with Lorraine and other relatives and friends of Andrea Dunbar, she chose to film professional actors lip synching to the recordings.

Barnard interweaves the scenes of the actors with footage of Dunbar from a 1980 BBC documentary, readings from the playwright’s letters and an outdoor performance of The Arbor itself on the streets and yards of Buttershaw. It all adds up to an ambitious treatment of the life of a playwright who lived fast, died young and probably could have spent more time with the kids. Yet while the starting point is the life of Andrea Dunbar, Barnard’s film eventually becomes an intimate portrayal of the family she created when she wasn’t writing, particularly Lorraine.

Having been shunted between foster care and relatives after her mother died, Lorraine’s is tale of substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, and domestic violence, all echoing the life of Dunbar. What separates the child from the parent though are the prison terms that Lorraine has served, most recently for the death of her own baby son by neglect. It’s interesting that younger sister Lisa has fond memories of Dunbar while Lorraine only wishes her mother was alive so she could tell Andrea how much she has to answer for.

The result of Barnard’s deft interweaving of media is that The Arbor becomes neither a documentary nor a feature, but a hybrid that tells a richer tale than just interviews could.