An extended allegory on the power and price of creative acts. Henry Fool
(Ryan) and Simon Grim (Urbaniak) form a double act of Shakespearean
stature. Grim is a reticent machinist, Fool a prolix diarist who moves
into his home and seduces his mother and sister. Fool encourages Grim to
write. Grim produces a masterpiece of scatological poetry. Fool keeps
his own multi-volume work private while trying to find Grim a
publisher. Grim achieves notoriety, and eventually fame for his work,
while the already down-and-out Fool slips into a moral abyss. A feat of
intelligence and complexity. Hartley’s most relentlessly focussed
work.
