All
Picasso’s Women has a contemporary setting in a London Art college.
The play is in monologue style as we follow the hopes and dreams of five
females, two teachers and three students. It is a play peppered with wry
and arresting one-liners.
In
the opening sequence the characters come on to the stage one by one ;
Albina (Lucia Pupilla), an American teacher, who recognises she has no
great artistic ability and is so obsessed with Picasso it leads to
sexual fantasizing ; Ciri (Citlalti Millan), of Maltese extraction who
paints in a small, direct style ; Dando (Jennifer Enson) from a middle
class background who paints as she feels ; Libby (Katie Costick) from a
working class background who wishes to paint portraits. Finally, there
appears Carolinda (Sherina Stewart), an art teacher who is still chasing
her dreams to paint the perfect ‘Sun on Water’. As we are drawn into
the play, we witness how each character perceives herself.
All
the cast perform with conviction giving credibility to their characters.
The play finishes in a quiet melancholy way as each character exits one
by one. It is an interesting challenge for male playwright Brian McAvera
to attempt to reveal the personalities of an all female set of
characters. Being male, I am not sure it wholly succeeds but you can
judge for yourselves.
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