One of the most original and engaging films I’ve seen so far this year is The Arbor, Directed by Clio Barnard and Produced by Shooter Tracy O’Riordan. The film is based around audio interviews conducted with the family members of Andrea Dunbar (wri. The Arbor, Rita, Sue and Bob too), a young British playwright who died suddenly, aged 29, back in 1990.

Raised on the notoriously rough Buttershaw Estate in Bradford (UK), Dunbar lead a fascinatingly duel existence; she was a poor, stuggling mother suffering from deprivation (in almost every sense of the word), as well as a significant playwright who was telling the story of working-class struggles, far from the cries of the Oxbridge writers who’d come before.

The story of Dunbar’s life – and those of her children – are told through audio interviews, which actors lip-sync to. One suspects this allows the interviewees to talk more frankly (no glare of the lights and camera), and it also raises the question (which many doc filmmakers have done before) about the fine line between “reality” and fiction.

Having enjoyed the film so much, I was really pleased to see that Tracy O’Riordan was a Shooter. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to dig a little further into this fascinating and innovative new British doc.

HJ:You must be thrilled by the critical praise The Arbor’s received so far. I thought it was an incredible film. Rare to watch something so original. How did you become involved in the project?

TO: Yes, I am thrilled by the reception for the film. I became involved in autumn 2008. Artangel (a company specialising in commissioning work by contemporary artists) had selected four projects to develop and produce, one of which was ‘The Arbor’ – or ‘Buttershaw’ as the project was called then. Clio Barnard (the director) had submitted the idea with the intention of revisiting The Buttershaw Estate in Bradford and seeing what had changed there in the last thirty years and reflecting on past representations of the Estate (Andrea Dunbar’s plays, the film ‘Rita, Sue and Bob Too’ and a play called ‘A State Affair’). At the point I became involved as Producer, Clio had been recording audio interviews with residents of the Estate for over a year and had nearly 90 hours of audio. I was brought on board to move the project forward into the next stage of development, which involved listening to all the interviews and deciding, with such a wealth of material, which story to tell.

HJ: What had triggered you and Clio to pursue this story? Had the idea been festering since stories about Loraine had been on the news?

TO: At the time Clio became interested in revisiting the Buttershaw Estate, she did not know about the stories of Lorraine on the news. Clio grew up near Bradford and is the same generation as Andrea Dunbar, who’s play, ‘Rita, Sue and Bob Too’ (and subsequent cult film) struck a chord. Clio read ‘Rita Sue and Bob Too’, which had been re-printed with Robin Soan’s ‘A State Affair’, a verbatim play which revisited Buttershaw and is about how cheap heroin wrecked lives on the Estate in the 90’s. The words of Lorraine Dunbar, Andrea’s eldest daughter, end A State Affair and link back to Andrea’s work. At this point Clio was aware that Lorraine had become a heroin addict, but didn’t know that she was in prison awaiting trial. As this part of the story became apparent, Clio began interviewing Lorraine.

I was a fan of the film, ‘Rita, Sue and Bob, Too’ when I was approached to work on the project, however, I didn’t know Andrea’s other plays and I was unaware of the play ‘A State Affair’. When I first listened to Lorraine’s interviews, I found her a compelling interviewee. She is extremely articulate and tells her story in a direct and at times emotionally detached manner. Lorraine describes a childhood of neglect and blames her Mother Andrea for all that is wrong in her life. This is in contrast to her sister Lisa, who idolizes Andrea to this day. The more I listened to the interviews the more compelled I felt that there was an important story to tell here.

HJ: Director Clio Barnard has a background as an artist filmmaker. Have you come from a similar background? If so, how did you find the transition into feature filmmaking?

TO: I come from a TV and film background. I started off as a runner on ‘The Big Breakfast’ many years ago, then worked as a development exec for a period of time before moving into physical production in film, as a Co-ordinator then Line Producer. Some of my credits include; Brothers of the Head, The Queen and Of Time and the City. The Arbor is my first credit as a Producer.

HJ: The film is predominantly focused around the Buttershaw Estate in Bradford. How have locals, both past and current, reacted to the portrayal of the area in the film?

TO: Opinion is divided somewhat. Some residents felt that some of the earlier portrayals painted the Estate in an exaggerated negative light. Whilst some are proud of Andrea’s work and ‘Rita, Sue and Bob Too.’

HJ: Did you film on the estate itself? If so, was it a struggle in terms of people’s attitudes to the crew, what the film was about etc?

TO: We filmed on the Estate for one week and Clio and I regard this as one of the best parts of making the film. Clio had forged relationships with the Dunbar family members and residents of the Estate during development, so I feel that they trusted us when it came time to film there. We mainly filmed the ‘The Arbor’ on The Arbor – these are the reconstructed scenes from Andrea’s first play.

HJ: I read that it took two years to conduct all the audio interviews. How did you go about this process? Was there fear of people changing their mind or losing interest?

TO: Yes, the interview process was staggered over a period of two years. During this time, no one changed their mind or lost interest. Lorraine’s reasons for making the film remained the same from beginning to end and it was important to us that she was behind the film from start to finish.

HJ: Where you ever concerned that documentary purists would have a negative reaction to the film’s mix of reality and fiction?

TO: No, I wasn’t concerned, as I feel that one of the films strengths is that it blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction and this is what Clio set out to do from the outset and I fully endorsed it.

HJ: As Producer what were the most problematic aspects of production and what were the most rewarding?

TO: The most problematic aspects were probably that our budget only allowed a 17 day shoot and this put pressure on Clio in particular and the cast and crew. However, we were blessed with a brilliant team of people who worked extremely hard to make it happen, and a cast who mastered the lipsync technique with seemingly extraordinary ease.

HJ: Do you and Clio have any more projects in the pipeline?

TO: Clio and I are working on an adaptation of an Oscar Wilde short story, which we hope will also be filmed on Buttershaw.

HJ: Thanks, Tracy. Best of luck with the film – I thought it was superb.

TO: Thank you!