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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Magic beanfeast makes for infectious panto fun
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
Jack and the Beanstalk
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
PANTOMIMES are the first time that many children get to experience the magic of the theatre and, based on the level of joyful interaction during Joyce Branagh’s version of Jack And The Beanstalk, it won’t be the last time for those present.
It's loosely based on the fairytale of a boy who sells the family cow in exchange for a bag of magic beans and there's enough well-timed slapstick and topical gags to make it rise above the purely formulaic.
Mark Walters’s framed set design resembles a giant children’s storybook with its bold colours and lashings of glitter. Yet even this is outshone by the costumes of Dame Dorothy Trott (Robin Simpson) which become increasingly absurd and disconnected to the plot — at one point, he's dressed as a cross between a Swiss army knife and medieval knight.
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WILL STONE enjoys a set by an artist too eclectic to be pigeonholed
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship