Private View – Greenwich Theatre, Greenwich

Writer & Director: Marc Blake  

Reviewer: Christine Stanton

“Lacking Tension“

3 / 5

Joan has landed a job on a private island, as a billionaire’s Artist in Residence, but rather than being inspired by the idyllic surroundings, the lifeless mansion drains her creativity and leaves her feeling isolated.

It’s not her world – Plaistow born, and Bermondsey raised, Joan (Oyinka Yusuff) doesn’t come from money, remarking her small flat is half the size of the guest room she’s staying at in the mansion. She refuses to put on any airs and graces around her bosses or their companions, being proudly and unashamedly herself, without any form of filter as she denounces their style, way of living and eating habits. While many would shrink around power, Joan challenges it, happy to provoke deeper conversation and cause a stir to liven up the otherwise stuffy atmosphere. Her goal is to create a collection that hopefully leads to an exhibition, encouraged by the Art Dealer (Alan Drake) that set up the role for her.

But, when the Billionaire (Jon Horrocks) and his wife (Naomi Bowman) arrive, they have little interest in viewing Joan’s art, surprisingly happy to instead invite her to dinner, yacht parties and private viewings, an unexpected (and very unbelievable) gesture considering they clearly only view her as lowly staff and have varying conflict filled, heightened interactions with her. Their main focus for their visit is to receive a coveted £200,000,000+ painting delivered by a Museum Curator (Jeremy Vinogradov) that they hope to be in their collection by the time the weekend is over. So, when the painting goes missing during a storm, fingers are inevitably pointed, motives are questioned and secrets are revealed.

Marc Blake’s script is full of studied references to artists, movements and paintings that help easily set the tone of the upper class gathering. The contrast of Joan makes for some humorous moments, and also spark a lot of interesting conversation around art as a whole. What is the value of art if no-one views it, how the elite live in comparison to their wealth and the prospect of forgery in the art world – all intriguing threads that fit into the narrative well. The missing painting is the core of the storyline, but is never built up with enough tension to fully engage – one moment the painting is there, the next it isn’t, and rather than continue looking for it, they all pop off for a day on a yacht instead. Their debate over the ‘whodunit’ lacks suspense, causing each revelation to fall flat and leaving the drama without conviction or spark.

It has some brushstrokes of brilliance scattered around the narrative, it just needs more polishing and a stronger execution to better paint the picture and allow the audience to invest in the tension.

Runs until 15th November 2025