Review: THE WOMAN WHO AMUSES HERSELF, Jack Studio Theatre

Who owns art really? The short answer is the artist or the last holder of the title to the work under a lawful contract. But that's rather too glib. On the one hand, the lawful nature of the contract can be very dubious, particularly art acquired as treasure in conquest or looted (once the statues issue in England has been sorted out, expect attention to turn to this matter), but there's a deeper issue too. Art expresses, even identifies, a culture - the culture owns it.

In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia knew this. He was an Italian immigrant sleeping (La bohème-style) in a Parisian garret and working in The Louvre as a glazier. One morning, he removed the Mona Lisa from jts mounting, stuffed it under his shirt and walked out. It was a sensational crime, but nobody suspected the little Italian guy.

He kept it in a trunk in his bedroom for two and a half years, slowly becoming mesmerised by La Giocondo's famously opaque smile, before returning to Italy and trying to sell it - which took a bit of the sheen off his noble mission. In court, he became something of a hero, a defender of Italy's unique artistic sensibility, a vessel for nationalists and sentimentalists alike. Leonardo was da Vinci and not de Paris after all.

Victor Lodato's play has a lot of fun with this idea and a few more about art, but it needs animation from an actor who can tread the fine line between philosophical discourse and comic cuts. Director, Kate Bannister, is well served by a virtuoso performance by Tice Oakfield, who channels a bit of Roberto Benigni's madcap charm in Life is Beautiful, as the hapless thief. He also 'becomes' a range of other characters including a schoolmistress, an art critic and an old lady. Each fills a little square of the tapestry of love woven by so many who have seen (or merely dreamt) of the painting.

There's a touch of Alan Bennett in the writing and subject matter, the depth of the issues masked by the lightness of tone and it's all done in a pacy hour or so, aided by strong video design by Douglas Baker and Julian Starr's sound. It's the kind of play that raises laughs and smiles as you're watching it, but sticks a little in your mind, nagging away with much bigger questions. In other words, rather like the enigmatic Lady herself, there's rather more to it than meets the eye.

The Woman Who Amuses Herself is at the Jack Studio Theatre until 23 July

Photo Credit: The Ocular

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