It takes guts and maybe a touch of madness for an actor to take on the part of the genius known as Pablo Picasso. Herbert Siguenza (one of the Culture Clash comedy team) is a case in point. Not only does he dare impersonate the famed artist in his solo show, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, he risks ridicule by trying, right before our eyes, to paint like him.
Fortunately, Siguenza is an experienced enough painter in his own right -- he is a graduate of the California College of Art -- to handle that challenge. Deftly and quickly, he knocks out half a dozen canvasses during the course of the play and decorates a few clay pots as well, all in the style and spirit of Picasso. Siguenza is an actor blessed with world-class chutzpah.
is set in Picasso's southern France home and studio in the spring of 1957. The drama is triggered by a phone call Picasso gets from his dealer, who informs him that a rich American woman is willing to pay him a ton of money for six new canvasses. The catch is that they must be completed and delivered in 48 hours. Picasso then races against the clock to finish the paintings, all the while sounding off to the audience (whom he has "allowed" to visit his home) about creativity, life, love, politics, sex, bullfighting and war.
