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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Candle with care
KATE GRAHAM applauds a bold and inventive interpretation of Shakespeare
Katy Stephens as Titus and Kibong Tanji as Aaron
[Camilla Greenwell]
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
Titus Andronicus
The Globe Theatre
BACK in 2014, Globe patrons were fainting at the blood and gore of the theatre’s main-stage production of Titus Andronicus. Now, in 2023, at the first performance of Titus on the Sam Wanamaker stage, director Jude Christian gives us less viscera and more candle wax.
Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare’s foray into the revenge play and, typically, these plays encourage their audiences to delight in bloodshed and violence. But here Christian refuses that, and instead of enacting violence on the bodies of the characters, it is the candles which are synonymous with the indoor stage of the Sam Wanamaker that get the treatment.
Each actor in this wonderfully strong ensemble carries a candle that represents their character and when they die that candle is snuffed out. If they are tortured, it’s the candle that bears the brunt of the violence.
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