I grew up on the island of Guernsey in the 1950s and ‘60s where, a century before, Victor Hugo lived for fifteen years as a political exile during France’s protracted revolution. These were Hugo’s most productive years when, far away from the distractions of his Parisian lifestyle of literary soirées, political wrangling, lover’s trysts etc, he finally completed his masterpiece, Les Misérables. His rigorous and energetic work regime during this time produced half a dozen other novels, volumes of poetry and republican tracts.

A man of intense passions, Hugo fell in love with the island, walking daily on its cliffs, swimming in its bracing waters, engaging with islanders from all walks of life, dining heartily on the fruits of the sea and the land. Guernsey shares many characteristics with the Sapphire Coast!

‘I live in a seagull’s nest high above the town; … I overlook the entire archipelago of the channel; I can see France from which I am banished … imagine my state of mind living in such splendid solitude, as though perched on the pinnacle of a rock, with all the great foaming waves and huge scudding clouds below my window. I live in this immense ocean dream, gradually turning into a sleepwalker of the sea …’ (VH).

One of his novels, The Toilers of the Sea, features a cast of Guernsey characters and unfolds, in the time of steam travel, on the island of Guernsey, in Saint-Malo in Brittany and out on the treacherous waters in between.

Victor Hugo, with the octopus.

In my play, The Brainstorm, I embody Hugo in the act of creating this ‘ripping yarn’ in his roof-top studio … the ‘lookout’. Hugo becomes the colourful characters, reads fragments of his manuscript, acts out scenes, crystallising the adventure that has been building in his imagination. This is the writer at work and in full flight.

The ‘lookout’ itself is like the fabulous and fantastical cave described in the novel as ‘that extraordinary palace of shadows’ and ‘the inside of a vast skull’. Metaphorically, we are inside the writer’s head.

My play also gives us glimpses of how Hugo’s tumultuous personal life finds expression in his romantic drama of obsession, betrayal, love and the powerful unpredictability of the natural environment.

‘I dedicate The Toilers of the Sea to the rock of hospitality and liberty, to that portion of old Norman ground inhabited by the little nation of the sea, to the Island of Guernsey, severe yet kind, my present asylum, perhaps my tomb …’ (VH).

The production features some of Hugo’s own beautiful and evocative ink drawings, brought to life as dynamic projections by local talent, Scott Baker.

The Brainstorm was first produced at the Murrah Hall in 2019 and I’m reviving it in preparation for its second season in October in Guernsey – its spiritual home. I’m thrilled to be amongst the first producers at the new Headland Theatre at the Tathra Hotel.

The Brainstorm will be at the Headland Theatre in Tathra on 7 and 8 August at 7.00 pm and 9 August at 2.00 pm.

Patrick Dickson

Photo top right: Patrick Dickson, as Victor Hugo  Photo credits: Lis Shelley