Howard Barker play is directed by Tom Cairns with Fiona Shaw leading the cast.
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.
Howard Barker’s Scenes from an Execution makes 16th-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. Fiona Shaw takes the role of Galactia in this darkly humorous and provocative play.
Lyttelton Theatre
National Theatre
South Bank, SE1 9PX
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Box office: 020 7452 3000
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