New play about Jack Vettriano in 'call to arms' to examine late artist's work

Now a new play about the life and works of late Scottish painter Jack Vettriano is to be premiered in Scotland.

Jack Vettriano Can't Paint, which has backing from his estate, will look at the artist's life - and his controversial position in the art establishment.

The play, by debut playwright Eden McIntyre, will be performed at Pitlochry Festival Theatre as part of next year’s programme under the leadership of artistic director Alan Cumming.

Mr McIntyre, a self-confessed lifetime fan of the artist, said the play allowed him to “speak from the heart” about Vettriano’s work.

Vettriano died last year in the south of France. Born Jack Hoggan in 1951, in Methil, Vettriano left school at 15 to become a mining engineer, but took up painting after a girlfriend gave him a box of watercolours for his 21st birthday.

Mr McIntyre said he recalled numerous Vettriano paintings on the walls of his grandmother’s house in Clydebank when he was a child.

“He was always a part of our of our life, and definitely my upbringing, the paintings were such a staple of the late 90s and 2000s household,” he said.

“Even as a kid, I felt like, why am I looking in books of great British painters, and he's not in it? Or why in high school and for Higher art was I not allowed to study Jack Vettriano?

Previously a screenwriter, who won a place on development programme BBC Writers Room Scottish Voice, the play is Mr McIntyre’s debut stage production. He was commissioned by Pitlochry Theatre director Alan Cumming after an on-spec email. Cumming then suggested the pair meet with Carolyn Osborne from Vettriano’s estate.

Mr McIntyre said: “I worried, ‘what if she hates it?’ She's so invested, she was a friend to to Jack. But she didn't. She really loved it and she loved a lot of the nuance and the details and I'd pulled out.”

The Singing Butler, which depicts an elegant couple dancing on a storm-swept beach accompanied by their butler and maid, sold at auction for £744,800 in 2004, setting a record for a Scottish painting at the time. It is believed to have sold more than a million poster reproductions, postcards, and other merchandise across the UK and is widely recognised as Britain’s best-selling painting.

However, while featuring the famous work, the play will also focus on lesser-known pieces by the artist.

Mr McIntyre said he believed Vettriano was a victim of “tall poppy syndrome”.

He said: “It’s [the success of The Singing Butler] a crazy achievement - and when you think Van Gogh and others were seen to be failures in their own lifetime. There was always lots of different reasons why he [Vettriano] was polarising or why he was causing conflict.”

He said the title was chosen to challenge the audience.

He said: “It’s like a call to arms. I'm not here to tell people that they're wrong, that he can paint, or that he can't paint, all I'm doing here is is inviting people to actually see the art and see it for themselves and see what they think. I want them to look at it and go, ‘do we appreciate the art from the artist or where the artist came from or what they've achieved?’”

Also among new shows announced for Pitlochry are a new production of Alan Ayckbourne’s Absent Friends, and Dolly Parton musical 9-5, directed by Cora Bisset - as well a new play, Love Songs for Monsters, by Scottish playwright and former Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery.

Jack Vettriano Can’t Paint will run at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 16 July to 7 August.