Scenes from an Execution by Howard Barker

★★★★★
The Times
★★★★
Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Metro, Time Out
‘Wonderful. Howard Barker’s play is a marvel - a philosophical, funny and wise tight-rope act. It blew me away.' The Times
‘In a bravura performance, Fiona Shaw brilliantly communicates the animal energy, the dishevelled, uncircumspect sensuality and the caustic, uncompromising spirit of the artist.’ Independent
'A fine revival by Tom Cairns of Howard Barker's tremendous play about the relation of the artist to the state... has the feel of a contemporary classic.' Guardian
‘Full marks to the National for reviving what is probably Barker’s best-known and most accessible piece, complete with a hulking great central part for Fiona Shaw.’ Evening Standard




http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/scenes-from-an-execution?play=4

Scenes from an Execution

Commissioned to paint a vast canvas celebrating the triumphant Battle of Lepanto, the free-spirited Galactia creates instead a breathtaking scene of war-torn carnage. In her fierce determination to stay true to herself, she alienates the authorities and faces incarceration. Her younger lover Carpeta is approached to take over and seizes the assignment for himself.
But listen, this is a State commission, an investment, an investment by us, the Republic of Venice, in you, Galactia. Empire and artist. Greatness beckons, and greatness imposes disciplines.
Howard Barker’s Scenes from an Execution makes sixteenth-century Venice the setting for a fearless exploration of sexual politics and the timeless tension between personal ambition and moral responsibility, between the patron’s demands and the artist’s autonomy.
Art is opinion, and opinion is the source of all authority.