Groupie

Mattie Beancourt, a 61 year old woman, reads the autobiography of Mark Gorman, a famous painter. Having grown up in the same London East End streets as the painter she writes him a fan letter. He replies briefly, apologising he can't write at length as he's busy preparing for a new exhibition and must give interviews and meet with prospective purchasers, and so on. She is so surprised and impressed that he has deigned to reply that she dares write again. A correspondence develops. She visits him unannounced, and discovers that far from preparing for a new exhibition and being absorbed with interviews he lives in near poverty and neglect. Her personality is sunny, his is curmudgeonly. Their impact upon each other is startling. Groupie began life as a Radio 4 commissioned Friday Play which was transmitted in 2001 with Barbara Windsor and Timothy West. The world premiere opened in Naples 2002.