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 vibrant cast with a clear love of their subject matter
The power of Marley’s music comes into its own in a warts-and-all narrative which ably avoids hagiography, writes PETER MASON
Arinzé Kene as Bob Marley
[Tristram Kenton]
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
Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical
Lyric Theatre, London
ALTHOUGH Get Up Stand Up! Is a jukebox musical, its creators have resisted the temptation merely to stitch together a few of Bob Marley’s best songs and let the melodies do the talking.
Clint Dyer (director) and Lee Hall (book) could certainly have travelled down that route and got away with it, such is the power of the Tuff Gong’s repertoire.
But by taking the project on to another level they’ve come up with a treatment of Marley’s life that gives almost as much weight to his message as to his music.
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WILL STONE applauds a comprehensive survey of love in its many moods and musical forms