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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Acute parliamentary question from Fritz
The playwrights interrogation of why people are driven to acts of terrorism is a pressing one for those in power, says PAUL FOLEY
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
Parliament Square
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
WHAT drives someone to commit an act of complete desperation in the hope that it will change things for the better? Given the senseless events that have happened at Manchester Arena and elsewhere so far this year, that simple question, posed in James Fritz’s Parliament Square, makes it a timely and necessary play.
Its protagonist, Kat, can no longer sit by and watch the world descend into chaos. The relentless despair pouring form the news bulletins has seeped into her bones.
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Although this production was in rehearsal before the playwright’s death, it allows us to pay homage to his life, suggests MARY CONWAY
GORDON PARSONS acknowledges the authority with which Sarah Kane’s theatrical justification for suicide has resonance today
PAUL FOLEY welcomes a dramatic account of the men and women involved in the pivotal moment of the 5th Pan African Congress
MARY CONWAY is blown away by a flawless production of Lynn Nottage’s exquisite tragedy