New York’s new $475m multi-arts institution, The Shed, has just thrown open its doors for the first time. Alex Needham stops by as the venue rushes to complete its building work and ponders whether the institution can ever live up to its expectations.
Ben Whishaw is on stage, stripped to his underwear. Prosthetic scars cover his shoulders and back. He puts a large pad over each buttock as he cross-dresses as Marilyn Monroe. Later, the soprano Renée Fleming warbles the line “They’re fracking the fuck out of the world!”, which raises a big laugh from the audience.
Others watching, however, seem less taken with Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, a half-spoken, half-sung play written specially for Whishaw by the poet Anne Carson. The first person walks out of this preview performance about 30 minutes in; over the next hour around another 10 leave, the clomping of their shoes... Keep reading on The Guardian