Picasso, according to his wife Jacqueline, painted with the blood of other people - one of them being herself. But Brian McAvera's clever two-part play Picasso's Women is much more than a revenger's tragedy. It is even, in the hands of the theatrically if not biographically first woman Francoise, something of a revenger's comedy, as she anatomises the processes both of seduction and of art. Amanda Harris is an actress of subtle authority with a beautifully cadenced voice and the power to fill a stage on which there is nothing except herself and a chair; even her very English "intrusive R" can be forgiven as she brings Stephen Wrentmore's directions to fruition on the head - and other body parts - of Picasso.
Francoise and her successor Jacqueline both lived at a time when success in life still depended on success with a man - the greater the man, the greater your own achievement. Jacqueline was obsessive, cunning and almost desperate in a passion of pursuit which led at last to marriage and to something approaching mutual imprisonment. Susannah York explores the entrails of the relationship as Jacqueline devotes her life to this marital monster in something approaching self-immolation; this warm-voiced, wide-eyed actress produces an effect of murderous naivete, thrilling to witness and built around a core of poignant, baffled introspection. Director Andy Jordan uses Nicky Shaw's design efficiently, and in both pieces Chris Corner's lighting design is as important to their success as Tot Taylor's music, supported by Paul Bull's sound design.
Picasso's Women continues at Everyman Palace until Saturday. Tel: 021-4501673/ 4503607