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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Frozen response
A challenging play about a child killer leaves MARY CONWAY somewhat cold
Splendid: Suranne Jones and Nina Sosanya in Frozen
[Johan Persson]
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
Frozen
Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
BRYONY LAVERY’S Frozen arrives at the Theatre Royal with a starry cast and a formidable track record after previous productions at Birmingham Rep, the National Theatre and on Broadway attracted award nominations.
But there's something about Lavery's story of a remorseless serial killer who commits the kind of crime that makes avengers of us all and sets mobs baying for blood that leaves me cold.
Centred on the rape and murder of a child, Frozen cuts through spontaneous revulsion with intelligent questions while seeming to exploit, rather than dissipate, the prurience of the world at large.
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MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
JOSEPHINE BARBARO welcomes a diverse anthology of experiences by autistic women that amounts to a resounding chorus, demanding to be heard
Timeloop murder, trad family MomBomb, Sicilian crime pages and Craven praise
MARY CONWAY applauds the success of Beth Steel’s bitter-sweet state-of-the-nation play