LEE
Park Theatre
★★★½
“The script glimmers with astute judgements, informative history, and shrewd wit”
Cian Griffin’s new play, Lee, delights with an emotive and well-researched take on a formidable artist. However, much like the organised chaos of Krasner’s recreated studio and Abstract Expressionist paintings, the show’s message at times felt jumbled and hard to discern.
Springs, New York, 1969: 13 years after the death of her husband, Jackson Pollock, Krasner is working on her latest painting, ‘Portrait in Green’. Hank, local delivery boy and art student, interrupts Krasner’s flow to seek advice on his portfolio and authenticate a painting given by Pollock to settle a debt with Hank’s father. The play weaves together imagined conversations between Krasner, Pollock and Hank, exploring her continued fight to make men see the worth in the work of female artists. The question remains, however: what freedoms lie in store for Krasner should she herself shake the weight of valuing their opinions?
Before a word is spoken, Jason Moore’s insightful direction sets the scene as Pollock (Tom Andrews) wanders onstage to cast an ever-critical eye upon Krasner’s paintings. Setting up their power struggle, Krasner, played by Olivier-nominated Helen Goldwyn, sets foot onstage with instant stage presence. In a captivating moment of live painting, Goldwyn lays down long brushstrokes with the unstudied air of a great artist’s intuition. The play certainly shines in its exciting and unique interactions – if only there had been more of them – with Ian Nicholas’ exceptional set design. There is certainly a commendable eye for detail in recreating Krasner’s Springs studio, with copies of Lee Krasner’s artworks and paint splatters on the floor that concretise the space and anchor the imagined action.
In 85 minutes, Griffin packs in a lot, although perhaps too much. Dialogue moves through meditations upon the artist’s raison d’être, Hank’s relationship with his father, Krasner’s with Pollock, the sexism of the American art scene. The script glimmers with astute judgements, informative history, and shrewd wit. This is excellently brought out in pacy back-and-forths between Goldwyn, superbly convincing as an acerbic Krasner, and Andrews, hands shaking from Pollock’s excessive alcoholism as he holds cigarettes to his sour face. Will Bagnall provides a welcome relief to the artists’ pessimism, perfectly embodying a young artist’s creative passion and naivety in a wide-eyed stare and shy smile.
That said, emotional highs and lows feel unexpectedly sudden at times, and the play’s structure could be improved for clarity. Pollock appears rather sporadically throughout the play, in scenes that can detract from a clear understanding and progression between the production’s main plot points. It is also clear Griffin completed extensive research, although evidence of such felt a touch heavy-handed at times. This historical reimagining, interspersing fantasy and reality, made it difficult to decipher fact from fiction – although perhaps this device was employed to encourage the audience to investigate further, which I certainly did.
The play’s attempt to centralise the too-oft marginalised ‘wife’ to the celebrity male artist is mostly successful, albeit obscured at times by the interwoven storylines of the male parts themselves. Overall, Lee is worth the watch – it draws audiences into the wonderful wit, work and world of Lee Krasner, bringing her out of the shadows and shedding light upon her enormous influence on generations of artists.
LEE
Park Theatre
Reviewed on 30th September 2025
by Lara Bainbridge
Photography by Giacomo Giannelli
Previously reviewed at this venue:
(GOD SAVE MY) NORTHERN SOUL | ★★ | September 2025
VERMIN | ★★★★ | September 2025
THE GATHERED LEAVES | ★★★★ | August 2025
LOST WATCHES | ★★★ | August 2025
THAT BASTARD, PUCCINI! | ★★★★★ | July 2025
OUR COSMIC DUST | ★★★ | June 2025
OUTPATIENT | ★★★★ | May 2025
CONVERSATIONS AFTER SEX | ★★★ | May 2025
FAREWELL MR HAFFMANN | ★★★★ | March 2025
ONE DAY WHEN WE WERE YOUNG | ★★★ | March 2025
