I'm not immune to the charms of something a bit whimsical, but I think my tolerance can only take small doses. It's one reason I was sceptical about Emma Rice taking over Shakespeare's Globe, as when she was Artistic Director of Kneehigh their house style was essentially to pile on whimsy with a shovel. Her former company are now Associates at the Globe, and for Rice's first venture into the Swanamaker she reunites with them for Daniel Jamieson's
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk. It's named after the Russian birthplace of the artist Marc Chagall (Marc Antolin) and his tendency to put couples in mid-air into his paintings. Framed as a phone call between the elderly Chagall and his agent, it sees him reminisce about his relationship with first wife Bella
Emberg Rosenfeld, a marriage that ended up in the centre of constant political turmoil.
