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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Best of 2019: Performance
EARTHBOUND MOVEMENT: Dada Masilo's Giselle
[John Hogg]
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
INVENTIVE adaptations of old favourites were the order of the year, perhaps in response to political and social uncertainties.
Wise Children, the new company set up by Kneehigh's Emma Rice, was responsible for two of the year's highlights, with Malory Towers (York Theatre Royal) turning Enid Blyton's somewhat dated story about a girls' boarding school into an uplifting piece of musical theatre that addressed bullying and the value of community with humour and a big heart.
Those elements were also present in the company's production of Angela Carter's Wise Children (HOME, Manchester). A love letter to the theatre, it used bawdy comedy, song and dance and puppetry to address heavyweight subjects and emotions.
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GEORGE FOGARTY is dazzled by a breathtakingly skillful puppet version of Shakespeare’s greatest love poem
SIMON PARSONS applauds an artist who rescues and rehumanises stories of women, the victims of violence, from a feminist perspective
MAYER WAKEFIELD recommends a musical ‘love letter’ to black power activists of the 1970s
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes an exuberant blend of emotion and analysis that captures the politics and contrarian nature of the French composer