All That Jazz

ART MATTERS

BY ENZO MARRA

) I would like to introduce you to or remind you of Marion Charles, an artist whose studio is at Phoenix Brighton. Born in south London, she studied sculpture with Ben Franklin at Redhill & Reigate School of Arts & Crafts, and at Goldsmiths College with Ivor Roberts Jones. She has been awarded the Royal Academy Award for Sculpture and a postgrad year at Wimbledon College which allowed her to work with Israeli sculptor Menashe Kadishman. Her drawings are now figurative in tone but not based on observation, their impact more caused by their immediacy and the directness that is involved in their application. Their inspiration ranging from the concept of the landscape, the face and its different emotional displays and resonances, the nude figure and how it can be seen, stood, striding, stood up. The range of mediums she utilises allowing a wide variety of strokes and surfaces to be seen, adding to the subject matter that they are used to portray. Inks, pastels, felt tips, wax, collage and water-based pigments. Drawn and painted, pencil strokes visible, washes and blocks of dried pigment, previous layers peeking through, the manners of their creation as visible as the subject matters they have been deployed to represent. This freedom allowing each series she begins to have little or no constraints other than the need for a support to hold them together.

Her cast of figures included in the Blessés de Guerre series are both suitably visually and psychologically dark in the same instance, threatening without any blatantly obvious signifiers dragging us to such a conclusion. The darkness of life as important to portray as more positive reactions to at least keep us rational and somewhat thankful. The Bedroom series, an exploration of the nude from a very different viewpoint, allowing her to portray the emotion that could be unvoiced in the mind of the body that is being denied the protection and security of worn clothes. Their final achieved appearance differing with each change in inspiration, yet as a whole still unified by the intent seen in their individual execution. Her freedom to use colour in subdued and extravagant manners giving each series a coherent identity, never reducing the forms executed to empty stylisations or graphic depictions. Each addition to each series, needing to exist not merely another permutation. Each honest and necessary, another expression that demanded to be freed and seen. Their final achieved appearance differing with each change in inspiration, yet as a whole still unified by the intent seen in their individual execution. Over the years she has brought up her two sons as a single parent while being involved in teaching life drawing, sculpture and other related art subjects. These joys and social realities feeding and guiding the realms that her artworks will next spread their wings into. Having reacted to undergoing heart surgery, the concept of the bedroom and of protest, her deployed imagery is very much an extension and a mental unpacking of her experience and unique viewpoint of the lived world.

ALL THAT JAZZ

BY SIMON ADAMS REVIEWS

) VINNY GOLIA, HENRY KAISER et al: A Love Supreme Electric (Cuneiform). American saxophonist John Coltrane’s masterpieces, A Love Supreme and Meditations, are among the most spiritual, devotional works of jazz. Both were originally performed acoustically, which makes guitarist Henry Kaiser a brave man in attempting to rework the two pieces for electric instrumentation. He hasn’t slavishly copied the originals, rather delivering “a salvo dedicated to John Coltrane”, which transforms both pieces into new, enhanced compositions. What results is a sonic maelstrom of wailing guitar, pulsating Hammond organ riffs, and a furious rhythmic drive that sends both pieces into a new place altogether. Purists will recoil in horror at this attack on two of jazz’s unassailable heights, others will greet these new versions with undisguised glee. ) FRED HERSCH: Songs From Home (Palmetto). Piano genius – and gay icon – Fred Hersch describes this set as “kind of a comfort food album, with a little badass stuff in there. I didn’t want to make an easy listening album, but I did want to play some music that would make people happy.” Which is what he has done spectacularly well, turning in a set that embraces a contemplative Wouldn’t It Be Loverly from My Fair Lady as well as truly moving version of Jimmy Webb’s classic Wichita Lineman, a jaunty The Beatles’ When I’m Sixty-Four and a stride version of the famous 1918 pop song, After You’ve Gone, not to mention a Joni Mitchell cover and a couple of Hersch originals. Anything Hersch plays oozes style, but this set – recorded in lockdown in his home studio in Pennsylvania – also holds your hand and tells you everything will soon be alright. ) JOHN HOLLENBECK: Songs You Like A Lot (Flexatone Records). American band leader, arranger and composer John Hollenbeck delivers his music with considerable wit and aplomb. He likes to entertain as well as inform. His latest set follows on from 2013’s Songs I Like A Lot and 2015’s Songs We Like A Lot with another set of popular classics, this time chosen by ‘You’, his audience, and arranged for two vocalists, a pianist and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. Among the reworked songs are Peter Gabriel’s Don’t Give Up, The Bee Gees' usually saccharine How Deep Is Your Love?, and a radical rewrite of The Beach Boys’ God Only Knows. This is adventurous stuff that while easily accessible because of its well-known songs is also challenging in its musical demands. Take time to enjoy this fine set.

CURTAINS UP

With many of us desperate to park our bum in a theatre, Alex Klineberg shares some of the best shows, postlockdown, to a bring a bit of gay jollity back to our lives

) The theatre industry has been wiped out since March 2020. In lockdown, we’ve been sitting at home consuming TV, films, music, books and podcasts. The performers who produce so much of the content have been left with little or zero income. Writers can keep on writing. Established stars might have the cash to keep them going for a year, but the vast majority of performers are not Mariah Carey. There’s a huge amount of pent-up demand for live events, so when theatre comes back it’s likely to do so in a big way. With a roadmap out of lockdown, theatre productions are now being confirmed for summer and beyond. Here’s our round-up of the theatrical highlights to look out for. Be sure to support the arts and go see some shows when it’s legal to have fun again. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Based on the true story of a Sheffield teenager who dreamed of being a drag queen, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie became an unlikely smash hit when it opened in 2017. The West End production will return on May 20 at London’s Apollo Theatre. Popular with all age groups, it’s a heartwarming and high camp show you should definitely check out. Hairspray

John Waters’ 1988 cult classic turned out to be Divine’s last movie. Set in the early ‘60s, the film is a bad taste tribute to small-town Americana and pop culture. Despite being a minor hit upon release, the film never went out of fashion. In the age of Drag Race, Hairspray hasn’t dated at all. The musical has been running since 2002. Like Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, it’s a supremely camp, feel-good show. It’ll be heading to the London Coliseum for a limited run from April 22 - August 28 with Michael Ball filling Divine’s wig. Witness for the Prosecution

Based on Agatha Christie’s courtroom drama, this production pays tribute to her book and the 1957 film. Who could forget Marlene Dietrich’s imperious performance? As this is an Agatha Christie story, someone has been murdered and an air of genteel menace prevails. Dorothy Parker said that any playwright who includes a courtroom scene should be shot, this play is something of an exception. It opens on May 18 at County Hall in London.

SIX

The Queens are back! You know, Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour… and the other three. You may have heard of them. They had the misfortune to marry Henry VIII, a monarch who had a fixation with beheading his wives. Only this time, they’ve formed a girl band and they’re seeking pop stardom. It’s an ingenious premise for a musical. Six sassy queens ready to sashay out of the history books and slay. You’ll learn a thing or two about British history in the process. The

DEATH DROP @ GARRICK THEATRE, LONDON

musical is also a very 21st-century expression of Girl Power. SIX was 2019’s Olivier Award nominee for Best New Musical. It’s coming to Theatre Royal Brighton from August 3 - 7. Death Drop

Death Drop is a ‘Dragatha Christie’ drama set on Tuck Island in 1991. The assembled guests begin to reveal their sordid pasts and we have a murder mystery on our hands. As the suspicion mounts, we hurtle towards the whodunnit moment. This is a lighthearted romp starring Drag Race performers Courtney Act and Monét X Change. It’s billed as having “more twists and turns than a drag queen’s wig”. Death Drop is set to return to London’s Garrick Theatre from May 19.

Heathers: The Musical

Heathers is one of the great American teen movies, and one of the most iconic ‘80s movies from any genre. It’s one of those films people rediscover every year. And those types of films often get turned into musicals – because, money! Set in the all-American highschool Westerberg High, Veronica Sawyer is the nobody dreaming of being a somebody. She ends up befriending the Heathers – the nasty but cool girls. When the hooligan teen JD shows up, things start to go downhill. This film clearly inspired Mean Girls. American highschool films have become a genre unto themselves, with their own unique tropes and narrative arcs.

Heathers: The Musical ran for two successful West End seasons. It will be heading to Theatre Royal, Brighton from May 25 - 29. The Frock Fairies in Sleeping (with) Beauty – Adult Panto

What could be more British than pantomime? A pantomime starring Baga Chipz, Divina De Campo and Blu Hydrangea will also be on the bill.

Baga, Divina and Blu, aka The Frock Fairies, arrive with bespoke gifts for Princess Beauty. But the “evil minger”, Carabosse, shows up and leaves a curse upon Princess Beauty: she will prick her finger and die on her 18th birthday. The kingdom despairs. This is a high camp panto – are there any other kinds? – that promises rude jokes, trashy songs and many gags. This is an Adult Panto so you might want to leave the kids at home. Otherwise they will be subjected to unfiltered filth from Baga Chipz! One night only on June 28 at Theatre Royal, Brighton.

AT HOME

WITH MICHAEL HOOTMAN

) VIY (Eureka Blu-ray). Based on a Gogol novella, this has the distinction of being the only horror film produced in the Soviet Union. In 19th-century Russia a young seminarian stays overnight at the house of a witch who is simultaneously a wizened old hag (intriguingly

played by a man) and a beautiful young woman. After her death he has to perform various funereal rites but the undead witch fights back using supernatural powers and, in the film’s spectacular climax, a panoply of freakishly weird hellspawn. VIY’s sense of time and place rivals that of Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and while it’s unlikely to truly scare modern audiences, its dark fairytale atmosphere is strangely unsettling. The first pressing includes a 1990 version of the story which mimics Hammer films in its style, but adds on lashings of perversity. The scene where the witch repeatedly stamps on her hapless victim’s gentlemen’s parts is pretty gruelling (or, depending on the viewer, very, very exciting). ) ROMEO IS BLEEDING (BFI Blu-ray). Peter Medak’s 1993 neo-noir got a rough ride from the critics and the audiences stayed away in droves. Being left to mature in the vaults for 30 years unfortunately hasn’t improved things. The film feels like a series of disconnected scenes with equally fractured dialogue. Gary Oldman, who narrates the story in flashback, is a corrupt NY cop who seems to have an unconvincing accent or an undeveloped character – possibly both. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact reason, but whatever it is his performance is fairly unconvincing. He works for evil mob boss Roy Scheider and after a hit on a grass goes wrong he’s charged with killing Russian cartoon-style hitwoman Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin). There’s a great – well, weirdly watchable – scene where Olin tries to kill Oldman by strangling him. As she does it she gives this wonderful full-throated laugh and it’s exactly the same laugh that Tura Satana gives for no apparent reason when she’s driving in Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill. Variety said the film could herald a new genre of ‘film noir camp’ and it’s hard to disagree. Critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas gamely tries to make a case for the film in her audio commentary, but having an unreliable narrator is only interesting if he’s telling a pretty compelling story. ) QUO VADIS, AIDA (www. curzonhomecinema.com). In1995, Muslim residents of the Bosnian town of Srebrenica sought sanctuary at a base run by the UN which, to its eternal shame, stood by and did nothing as atrocities were committed sometimes within full view of UN personnel. Jasmila Žbanic’s film focuses on a Bosnian UN translator Aida – a truly outstanding performance by Jasna Đuricic – who acts as an intermediary between UN officials, who blatantly renege on promises of help, and her own community. The film is as sweat-inducing as any thriller yet the overriding feel of the movie is one of dread: almost every scene seems to foreshadow the inevitable massacre which we know must eventually happen. The emotional stakes are ratcheted up with Aida’s attempts to try to save the lives of her husband and two sons. Đuricic goes through the emotional range of an operatic heroine but, of course, considering the subject matter this is done with a total commitment to realism. It’s a performance of great power and depth which held this viewer completely enthralled. Quo Vadis, Aida is an unnerving glimpse of ordinary people caught up in acts of genuine evil in which, thankfully, the director wisely doesn’t show anything too graphic. A harrowing masterpiece.