The Monthly discusses a new play, “Blind Man’s Boat”, written by artist and playwright, Clinton Kirkpatrick – Part 1 – From a love of theatre to producing a play

How do you move into playwriting?

I have always been interested in theatre but more recently I became intrigued about writing my own work and bringing the characters in my work to life. Over recent years I have worked with companies like Terra Nova Productions, working as a community artist, and I was able to get more of an insight into the workings of the theatre.

On top of that I am working with the Summer School at the Lyric Theatre and so that has just added to my love of, and interest in, the theatre.

I didn’t really know if it was going to be possible for me to write a play but I am also someone who can sense and feel when the wind changes direction.

What is it about theatre in particular which attracts you?

I love theatre which makes me feel deeply, which makes me respond on an emotional level to whatever subject matter is being explored. I love visual spectacle and the immersive quality to theatre. I love vibrancy and strangeness and being brought into a different world for a few hours is a very powerful thing.

So based on your love of the theatre, you decided to write a play?

Now, entering into this world has been a massive learning curve for me and the initial curiosity came when I started wondering whether or not the characters I’m in conversation with, when I create my artworks, might be able to be used in other ways.

These characters are usually being thought about in quite a specific way about a particular idea, or feeling, I am exploring, so I was thinking that they may be able to speak for example, or that they could “have a life” if that makes sense.

I wanted to see if it was possible for me to write and create something and it turned out that it was entirely possible.

How do things develop from that initial starting point?

About 18 months ago I applied to a Tinderbox Theatre Company programme for a week to explore the idea of making a piece of theatre. By the end of that week I realised that I wanted to create a show although it existed only as an idea for a while after that. I applied then to the Engine Programme with Tinderbox, in Summer 2025, and was one of ten people who were selected to work on that programme.

During that experience I started to ask myself all sorts of questions. “Can I actually write a show?, “Can I bring my characters to life?”, “Am I a good writer?”, “Am I good enough to write a piece of theatre?”, “How do I create puppets?”, and for the last 8 months I have been trying to answer those questions. And, it turns out, I can actually do all of those things but I was really learning by doing one thing at a time, building up my skills. I still have a huge amount to learn, but I feel the foundations are now there.

Can you tell us something about the play?

I became fascinated with one particular character from my work. The character is blind and is sailing in the middle of the ocean, by themselves, in a boat. The play is titled, “Blind Man’s Boat”, and the character raises a number of questions, “Why is this person blind?”, “Why are they on the boat?” and “Why are they in the middle of a vast ocean by themselves?”

Now, if you know anything about my work, my paintings are often populated by eyes, and there is a sense that everyone can see everyone else or that we are constantly being observed, or that everything can see everything else including inanimate objects; the sense that everything connects in some way, or that everything can fundamentally see everything else.

And then, here we have a character that cannot see around him, who’s existing in the middle of the ocean where he’s alone and cannot be observed. Or, has he consciously made his way into the ocean for solitude. He poses a lot of questions, certainly to me, and this is what I wanted to explore.