Carry On Bertie

There's no doubt that his years in Croydon (1908-12) were difficult ones for Lawrence. Bored and often exhausted by a full-time teaching job which left him little time to focus on his writing, he had also to recover from the death of his beloved mother and a bout of pneumonia that left him gravely ill for many months.

But what's really fascinating is the increasingly frustrated nature of his love life during this period. Almost one might describe it as his polyamorous phase; a time when he made romantic overtures to numerous young women in the hope of getting laid, before finally meeting and eloping with a married woman six years his senior. 

I was reminded of the complex, chaotic and somewhat farcical character of Lawrence's dealings with the fairer sex whilst watching a performance of Glyn Bailey's musical, Lawrence, at the Bridewell Theatre. I would argue that the number entitled 'Bertie's Girls' teasingly suggested a possible future development of the show: more humour and more bawdiness on the one hand; less pathos, less sentiment, and less preaching on the other.

I'm certain that many people would enjoy encountering Lawrence the young would-be poet and sex maniac chasing farmer's daughters and suffragettes as he attempts to break on to the London literary scene, rather than Lawrence the bearded priest of love boring us all rigid with his obsessive moralizing.

And I think Lawrence's reputation - which, let's be honest, is not great - would be best served by being subjected to a camp and irreverent reinterpretation more in the tradition of the British music hall rather than the Broadway musical.

Carry on Bertie, anyone? Or Confessions of a Miner's Son, perhaps?