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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A play openly proud about working class identity
PAUL FOLEY speaks with JADE LEWIS, the director of SWEAT at Royal Exchange Manchester
RISING STAR: Award-winning Jade Lewis during rehearsals of SWEAT
[Ella Mayamothi]
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
JADE LEWIS is one of the rising stars of British theatre. A talented director and writer who has won many plaudits for her work. Starting her career at the Young Vic, Jade went on to direct acclaimed plays at the Gate and Bush theatres in London.
Earlier this month she won an Olivier for her show Sleepova. She’s now taking on US playwright Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play SWEAT at the Royal Exchange theatre Manchester. I caught up with her on the eve of the Press Night.
What strikes you about Jade is her class-consciousness. From a working-class family, she is passionate about giving prominent voice to working-class communities in theatre spaces across the country.
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