REVIEW: Picasso by Terry d’Alphonso at Playground Theatre, 25 Jan - 4 Feb 2023

‘There are numerous plays about art, but this piece … is more about the art of seduction’ ★★★ ½

This year is the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death, a man so recognisable that he falls in the category of people who can be addressed by only one name. Appropriately timed and titled, Picasso, at the Playground Theatre, is a play about the artist and his love of… not art … women.

A circular white curtain encloses the artist who appears on a tall ladder (one more fitting a house painter). The curtain serves a purpose as short, soundless video projections of Picasso’s lovers land on it, at times addressed directly by Picasso (Peter Tate). It could also represent a certain innocence, once opened, that is removed.

At a decently paced 60 minutes, the play focuses on the man, his appetites, and his many women. The original piece was written by film-maker Terry d’Alphonso, who passed away in 2016, and one can’t help wondering what compelled her to pen this. She had included the women in Picasso’s life as characters. In this adapted work by Peter Tate and Guy Masterson, it is a monologue, there is truly only one voice, and one that increasingly becomes animalistic, as the muses became prey. Many metaphors are used self-referentially including matador, God (the Christian one, clearly, as Picasso refers to the Trinity), Monster, and Minotaur. The latter one is embodied the most as the Minotaur in Greek mythology devoured humans for sustenance. It would seem so did Picasso.

Tate’s Picasso is strangely beguiling and bullish in his portrayal, with some (darkly) humorous lines providing some lightness at moments. The adept use of the video footage gives the viewer some visual concept of the women Picasso loved. However, he seemed to have only one position with women, both sexually and relationally. He started with insatiable passion, then boredom, then moved on. In parallel, the lighting was typically brightly lit upon the subject, only interchanging with a soft blue light whenever he was sexually intimate with his present lover. It is difficult to find things to like about the man by the end, with so many lives strewn on the ground.

There are numerous plays about art, but this piece, other than some passing mentions of Picasso’s paintings, is more about the art of seduction.

And did it seduce me? Nearly.

Photo credit: Brigitta Scholz-Mastroianni Nux Photography

PICASSO by Terry d’Alphonso at Playground Theatre, 25 Jan - 4 Feb 2023

Adaptation by Peter Tate and Guy Masterson

Box Office https://theplaygroundtheatre.london/

Performed by Peter Tate

(On-screen actors: Milena Vukotic, Margot Sikabonyi, Claudia Good, Sandra Collodel)

Directed by Guy Masterson

Video Mapping/ Co-Lighting Design: Steven Dean Moore

Set & Costume Design: Erin Kariori

Reviewed by Mariam Mathew