Writer: Tim Coakley
Director: Murray Hecht
“Where was I? Ah Surrealism!”
Giving the distinct impression of swimming through a penis-shaped pool filled with surrealism, celebrity and self-discovery, this new play from writer Tim Coakley explores the character of infamous, surrealist artist, Salvador Dali. In this lively production, Andrew Allen gives a striking, sympathetic performance as the man behind the moustache.
Salvador Dali (Allen) is trying to give a lecture. His wife, and very life, depends upon it. However, a couple of problems arise. Firstly, he doesn’t want to. Secondly, he keeps getting interrupted by his imagination. Visions haunt him: his beloved ocelot Babou (Joshua Davey), his disapproving father (Hamilton Wilson), and a woman called Louise (Summer Tewkesbury). Is there no end to the interruptions?
So it seems also from the constant mobile phone noises originating from the audience. Despite having been told to switch off our phones at the start, notifications and ringtones sound out so often you’d think this was part of the performance. At one point, a woman’s Siri even starts talking and she doesn’t seem to be able to make it stop. After a long conversation, to which Andrew Allen makes a highly commendable job of improvising his way through, the Siri bot says “POWERING DOWN” three times but still seems to be speaking. Finally, the woman removes herself, along with the device, from the theatre and the show can continue.
Did it ever stop? We could perhaps reframe these interruptions as the pull of the modern world on Dali, the demands of modern life nagging at the ‘great artist’ who just wants to be left alone to paint, but as yet another phone again chimes out during the final exchange between Dali and the complex love from his student days, Federico Garcia Lorca (Joshua Davey), it has gone well beyond the pale.
This production plays with the surreal through Dali’s visions. The strongest moments are when things get the weirdest: Babou becomes a world leader, society snobs – wearing grotesque Dali masks – stand around chatting vulgarities at a cocktail party, and a man dances about holding a pair of eyes. In a play about surrealism, things could definitely get weirder to mirror Dali’s work. Any expectation of walking melted clocks, spindly legged creatures or miss-matched lobsters goes unsatisfied. Given the rich busy worlds he painted, the stage and costumes of this production are disappointingly plain.
What this play does do is introduce us to a side of Dali beyond his larger than life act. Dali comes across instead as a lonely man stuck playing a character he’s come to loathe. Despite being a prolific and highly successful artist, we are encouraged to believe he is chained by his obligations and hen pecked by his commercially savvy wife. His wife, Gala (Helen Stirling-Lane), herself a fascinating character, is presented largely as a caricature and the chance to understand her motives, jealousies and controlling behaviour are missed. Furthermore, if Louise (Summer Tewkesbury) is indeed Louise Bourgeois, the opportunity of developing a character that embodies this other extraordinary woman has also been overlooked. Everything these women have to offer in this play is scripted to be about the ‘great’ man. There is also much about the more challenging aspects of Dali’s life that goes unaddressed. Federico Garcia Lorca is merely introduced as Dali’s “childhood friend”.
Allen puts in an inspiring performance as the troubled Dali. The most stirring moment is when Dali decides to embrace his authenticity, but we have limited time to really discover what this means. Just as we feel we are getting somewhere with Dali, it is time to say goodbye. There’s just the space to explain his fixation with ants before the performance ends, leaving us with many questions about the man and his muses.
Reviewed on the 18th May
