Lost in Blue

Colours weave through Debs Newbold’s narrative and swirl in the mind’s eye, particularly red and blue, opposites and equals, as she tells the story of a fragmented family. 

Returning from Sydney to Birmingham with her mother, 18-year-old Annie attempts to find her feet in a strange place. Her father is in a coma, has been for 15 years, but Annie thinks her presence could change that. Like her dad, she wants to be an artist. 

Newbold brings a tight thematic unity to this skilfully told story. Vivid symbols, like open palms and clenched fists, echo throughout each strand of the narrative, finding different meaning in each character’s story; and by referring so frequently to paint and to colours Newbold plays to the imagination’s instinct for creating images.

As rooted in reality as the story is, it’s not without touches of magic and surrealism. Newbold takes us into the minds of all of these characters, including dad Paul who, in his comatose state, imagines he is living in the blue room of Vincent van Gogh in Arles. 

A loop station augments the story with a subtle soundscape. Nothing overbearing, just touches like a dripping leak or the hum of an aeroplane cabin. 

The Summerhall acoustics swallow her voice at times and some of the swifter phrases are tricky to hear, but Newbold’s warmth as a storyteller overrides any flaws. In its careful, colourful layers it’s as textural as a painting; in its use of motif it sings like a piece of music.