When David Atfield came across Caravaggio's The Raising of Lazarus, he burst into tears.
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The painting, which he saw in a gallery during a trip to Europe in 2016, depicts a joyous biblical event - Jesus bringing the four-days-dead Lazarus back to life.
But, Atfield says, it has a strangely tragic feeling that affected him deeply.
The painting's chiaroscuro effects - with deep contrasts of light and dark - and the grisly appearance of the corpse suggest, he says, that something else was in Caravaggio's mind besides religious devotion or the simple fulfilment of a commission.
Jesus's raising of Lazarus also brings questions to mind, Atfield says. Why didn't Jesus raise others from the dead? What happened to Lazarus in the rest of his life?
"He was the only person, supposedly, who had to die twice."
Atfield's encounter with The Raising of Lazarus as the inspiration for the writer-director's new play, Chiaroscuro.
It premieres at the Courtyard Studio on November 24, 2021.
Developed as part of the New Works program at the Canberra Theatre Centre, Chiaroscuro imagines the creation of The Raising of Lazarus.
In the play, Caravaggio (played by Mark Salvestro) enlists the homeless Gregorio (Shae Kelly) to act as his model for Lazarus as he works on the painting in his attic studio.
The professional relationship between the artist and his subject soon becomes a closer, more intimate one.
"They build an amazing rapport - it really is quite romantic - and have an intense love affair," Atfield says.
It's not just about sex: the two of them form a deep emotional connection as well.
"It's a play with very contemporary language and contemporary music," Atfield says. The latter includes works by queer singer-songwriter Troye Sivan and REM's song Losing My Religion.
From his research, Atfield says it was not uncommon for Caravaggio to use street people - prostitutes, vagrants - as models.
The artist did not idealise people in his art.
"He was painting them warts and all."
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was one of the major artists of the Italian Baroque era.
His realistic portrayals of humans and sense of the dramatic in staging and lighting made for vivid art.
Caravaggio was, Atfield says, "at least bisexual" and much of his art is suffused with homoeroticism.
Atfield says the artist was a heavy drinker, violent and renowned for his short temper, perhaps the result of repression.
After killing a man in Rome in 1606 - "probably an accidental death" - he had to flee. He died at the age of 38 but the cause has been debated: malaria, syphilis, lead poisoning, murder and an infected wound have been put forward as possibilities.
Atfield's previous works as writer and director, Scandalous Boy (2014) and Exclusion (2018), deal with queer themes and characters - the former in ancient Rome, the latter in the contemporary world of politics - and so does Chiaroscuro.
The new play was given readings in Sydney in 2018 and Melbourne in 2020 and a YouTube reading in Canberra as Atfield continued rewriting it.
Originally it was to be produced in August in the Courtyard Studio as the first play in the New Works program, but COVID-19 delayed it for a couple of months.
Being able to rehearse on the full set - designed by Rose Montgomery - in the theatre is a privilege Atfield has never had before.
It's been good for the actors, he says, since they were able get used to the performance space much earlier than usual.
Chiaroscuro is on at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre on November 24, 26 and 27 at 7.30pm and November 27 at 2pm. canberratheatrecentre.com.au.