REVIEW: PROVENANCE by Jonathan Skinner at Barons Court Theatre 24 – 28 June 2025
‘Interesting set up and engaging performances.’ ★★★
We are with an artist in his studio. He is bearded, grizzled, lost in his world of abstract art, daubing different shades onto shapes, while listening to Pulp’s Common People. There’s an insistent buzzing from the entry phone, someone he’s expecting. The artist has signed up for a mentoring scheme and his charge is here. While he talks in florid purpleisms, she shoots from the hip, all flat vowels and belligerence. How’s this going to work?
Provenance by Jonathan Skinner was developed on the Criterion, New Writing Programme and won the Hebden Bridge Play Write! Award in 2020. Well cast, this two hander pits Saul Marron as the dry, aging, Scottish artist in his cosy garret against “poor, desperate” Martha Lyn his rude, defensive ‘mentee’. She’s a bit of a tower block cliché, her story too pat. There’s something that doesn’t quite add up, and the reason for this is revealed in due course.
How these two characters negotiate their different positions and perspectives offers an entertaining hour of banter as all manner of subjects are swiped around and challenged: the meaning of art, the importance of money, how where we come from defines our worth. But the key theme seems to be around truth and authenticity. Who can claim the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? although this central tenet is sometimes obscured by all the other conversational subjects.
The young woman observes to the aging painter who has retreated into non-emotional, non-human world of painting blank squares, they aren’t so different after all. “We find the truth, however difficult, then portray it for the world to see.” As layers and masks are gradually revealed, both the vanities of art and flaws of humanity are laid bare, although probably not quite bare enough as the heart of the two characters never fully unfolds. There’s depth, and back story suggested for both characters that remains unexplored.
Provenance offers an interesting set up but could be more focused in where it wants to alight its gaze. It has the potential for a dynamite explosion, but this is diffused early on, so it’s a soft landing for the audience. Anyone with three ex-wives is likely to have relationship issues but we have no idea what these might be. The mysterious portrait of the absent daughter meanwhile, hangs like a question mark throughout. With thoughtful direction from Sharon Willems and two engaging central performances, more of what is currently sub-text may need to surface for this play’s own truth to brightly shine.
Social Media (venue):
Instagram: @baronscourtw14
X: @BaronsCourt_W14
Facebook: /BaronsCourtTheatre
Social Media (producer)
@KiboProductions on twitter, instagram, and facebook www.kiboproductions.com
CAST AND CREATIVES:
Writer: Jonathan Skinner
Director: Sharon Willems
Cast: Martha Lyn (Ellie), Saul Marron (Patrick)
Set Design: Aurelie Freoua
Lighting Design: Leo Bacica
