RoxanaSilbertis making her mark as artistic director of Hampstead Theatre, one way or another. The first production she programmed met with poor reviews and controversy over casting.
Her second on the main stage is this playfully serious mash-up of Renaissance politics and pansexual modern hedonism, an example of what its Canadian writer JordanTannahillrefers to as queering history. Its exuberant fun with a sober central point but, like its protagonist, rather too in love with its own sass, swagger and cleverness.
InTannahillsimagining, Medici-controlled15th-centuryFlorence is a place of smartphone-toting excess. The bitchery and debauchery of brilliant, sexually insatiableSandroBotticelli and his gay fellow artists would makeRuPaulblush. Meanwhile, plague and starvation drive the poor towards the fiery populism of puritan monkSavonarola.
Its not an exact parallel of our age, more an analogy for tipping points where hurtling progressivism or galloping inequality result in a backlash.
The story is prosaic. Botticelli has an affair with his patrons wife while painting her as The Birth Of Venus. His ultimate punishment is to choose between his art and his beautiful assistant, Leonardo da Vinci. ButTannahillallows himself many indulgences. Venus confesses dark desires in aBritney-soundtrackedvogueingroutine. Conversely, a scene where Botticellis mother bathes him, like Mary washing Christ, is poignant.
Blanche McIntyres production has a looseness suited to the material, allowing Dickie Beaus cocksure Botticelli to show and tell us what an awful person he is. James Cotterills black box set becomes an artists studio, a squash court, and a dramatic bonfire for anythingSavonarolaconsiders decadent.
This production is never boring but it is restless and profligate with audience attention. You sometimes wishTannahill, who is 31 and works across many art forms, would settle down and tell you what he means. You also boggle at whatSilbertmight serve up next.
Until November 23 (020 7722 9301, hampsteadtheatre.com)
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Helen Maybanks
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Frederic Aranda
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Photograph by Nobby Clark
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Marc Brenner
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Marc Brenner
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Cameron Slater
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Helen Murray
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Manuel Harlan
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Helen Maybanks
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Catherine Ashmore
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Helen Maybanks
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Bronwen Sharp
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Sarah Lee
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Ellie Kurttz
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Johan Persson
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Ali Wright
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The Standout Company
Manuel Harlan
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Marc Brenner
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Mark Douet
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Alastair Muir
Pamela Raith
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Johan Persson
Matthew Murphy
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Helen Maybanks
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Frederic Aranda
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Photograph by Nobby Clark
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Marc Brenner
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Marc Brenner
Read our review
Cameron Slater
Read our review
Helen Murray
Read our review
Manuel Harlan
Read our review
Helen Maybanks
Read our review
Catherine Ashmore
Read our review
Helen Maybanks
Read our review
Bronwen Sharp
Read our review
Sarah Lee
Read our review
Ellie Kurttz
Read our review
Johan Persson
Read our review
Ali Wright
Read our review
The Standout Company
Manuel Harlan
Steve Tanner RSC
Marc Brenner
Read our review
Mark Douet
Read our review
Alastair Muir
Pamela Raith
Read our review
Johan Persson
Matthew Murphy
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