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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Fangs for nothing
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by characters so un-nuanced as to be unreal, a stereotypical plot and a conceptual vampire
UN-NUANCED: Sophie Melville, Leander Deeny, Laura Whitmore in Apex Predator
[Ellie Kurttz]
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
Apex Predator
Hampstead Theatre, London
★★
FOR more than 60 years, Hampstead Theatre has enjoyed a pivotal role. Bravely pioneering in spirit, it has periodically brought us world-class drama, thrilling new playwrights, great actors and eager audiences, while still retaining an atmosphere of local togetherness.
Lately, however, there have been some ups and downs. And, sadly, Apex Predator is a down.
Playwright John Donnelly has acclaimed stage and screen work to his name, and has no doubt been regarded as a catch by the Hampstead Theatre planning team. He has a purposeful agenda to this play and it premieres at Hampstead with all guns blazing. But the story is half-baked, as if jotted in bullet points on the back of a cigarette packet.
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MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
Although this production was in rehearsal before the playwright’s death, it allows us to pay homage to his life, suggests MARY CONWAY
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship