PICASSO AND ME. To 13 July.

Tour

PICASSO AND ME
by Mike Maran music by Karen Wimhurst

Tour to 13 July 2007
Runs 2hr One interval
Review: Ranjit Khutan 22 March at Arena Theatre Wolverhampton.

Art for life's sake, for goodness' sake.
South of France, summer 1966 - a hitchhiker is picked up by a photographer in a Citroen DS. The young boy then spends a day at Picasso’s looking at the paintings and listening to their conversations. Flash forward to 2006. A man returns to his hotel room clutching his purchase of the picture from the local flea market that stirs powerful memories of that day 40 years ago. Could this be the picture Picasso painted of him, the one the young boy complained, “Doesn’t look like me” and the one of which Picasso said, “It will”?

Mike Maran is a superb story teller; he brings meticulous research to life and presents this in an engaging and interesting manner. As with great paintings that touch you emotionally and personally, Maran’s Picasso speaks to us all, encouraging us to recall memories and assess relationships.

Focussing on Picasso’s men (rather than his women, which has dominated writing about Picasso), it’s a story about fathers and sons, about responsibilities and growing up and about remembering the detail rather than having a quick look at something and then moving on.

The narrative is loose, unrestrained and structured well; however the staging lacks ingenuity and movement and feels like a play more suited to radio rather than the stage. This is a one man show based on detailed research that is clever, moving and funny – it is a lesson in art history and a lesson in life.

Performed by Mike Maran

Director: Patrick Sandford
Designer: Juliet Shillingford
Lighting: David W Kidd
Painting: Jim Bowman

2007-04-02 01:55:06