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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Poe classic lost in translation to the stage
Irreverent: Olwen Davies and Ollie Smith
[Andrew Eaton]
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
The Black Cat
Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds/Touring
THE CONSIDERATIONS when adapting a classic book for the stage are much the same as those when covering a much-loved song. The performer can choose a traditional approach, as does Jeff Buckley with Hallelujah or take a more radical one, as in Nirvana's angsty version of The Man Who Sold The World.
Those parallels are repeatedly referenced in this retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat by LaPelles Factory, a two-hander from Olwen Davies and Ollie Smith, with the duo wrangling over how faithfully the macabre short story should be updated.
With irreverent insights into the process of staging and adaptation, the performers deliberately take opposing stances.
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