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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Monster treat for children of all ages
SIMON PARSONS sees an excellent stage version of a classic book
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
A Monster Calls
Old Vic, London
PATRICK NESS’S award-winning children’s novel about 13-year-old Conor, who comes to terms with his mother’s terminal cancer through the creation of a fantasy monster, is powerfully emotive material. Following in the wake of a visually spectacular 2016 film, any theatre adaptation is faced with a challenge and it's one that this production certainly meets.
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MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
STEPHEN ARNELL looks back to when protesters took to the streets in London demand to Irish liberty, fair pay and free speech — and wonders what’s changed in 138 years
GORDON PARSONS is disappointed by an unsubtle production of this comedy of upper middle class infidelity