EDINBURGH FRINGE: Le Monstre Sacre

Fifty years after his death, Pablo Picasso is back, warning us, 'You are lucky that I am already dead'!

I'd say Amen to that, for the portrait writer Terry D'Alfonso paints (sorry bout the pun) and the pictures conjured up on stage, both literally and metaphorically, are as distorted as Picasso's painting of Dora Maar, just one of several women he cast aside in his turbulent love life.

Picasso was promiscuous, but above all passionate, and in this tour de force award-winning actor Peter Tate gives a powerful performance as the Spanish artist.

In his closing lines Tate, as Picasso, says, 'I hypnotised the world'. Well, Tate certainly hypnotises his audiences, often making direct eye contact with a look that burns into your soul and is both seductive and shocking… just like the artist. But he is also subservient, coy and angry as he becomes his women, giving us a well-rounded view of a life audiences are left to judge.

This is one of two plays at this year's Fringe directed by award-winning Guy Masterson, who is currently on Broadway opening his Olivier-nominated The Shark is Broken, which started life here at the Fringe. Need I say more!

Image: Brigitta Scholz-Mastroianni

Picasso: Le Monstre Sacre is at the ASSEMBLY Roxy (Upstairs) until Aug 28 at 12.45 (1 hr 10 mins). Tickets: assemblyfestival.com