To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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#MeNeither
MARY CONWAY endures a shambolic and ill-conceived play that is frankly insulting to the #MeToo movement
Doon Mackichan (Sue) and Lily James (Kate) in Lyonesse at the Harold Pinter Theatre
[Manuel Harlan]
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
Lyonesse
Harold Pinter Theatre, London
LYONESSE at the Harold Pinter Theatre is arguably the most chaotic, ridiculously confused script I have ever seen performed on a major stage.
A largely benign audience (those who don’t actually leave at the interval) laugh and clap sporadically and will the actors on.
But deep down we all know the cast are struggling… which makes us ask why an actor of the calibre of Kristin Scott Thomas should waste her time with this drivel or why the high-flying Lily James should so lose her way.
We can only assume that these star performers, together with respected director Ian Rickson, feted designer Georgia Lowe, talented composer Stephen Warbeck and towering impresario Sonia Friedman were all taken in by the play’s topical #MeToo claim and the flavour-of-the-month status of playwright Penelope Skinner.
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