Artist attacks theatre with an axe after getting bad reviews

They say all publicity is good publicity.

But a Turner Prize-winning artist has a rather different view of things, having gone on the rampage with an axe following a string of poor reviews.

Douglas Gordon, director of Neck Of The Woods, which is showing at the Manchester International Festival (MIF) attacked the walls of the city's HOME theatre after the third performance of the play on Saturday night. He then signed his name on the wall alongside the indentations, as well as dating it.

Needless to say, the festival and venue were not impressed.

MIF CEO and artistic director Alex Poots said: "We understand that one of our artists acted in a wholly inappropriate way after the opening of Neck Of The Woods, causing slight damage to the fabric of HOME's new building. This is totally unacceptable and the artist involved will be paying for repairs. MIF and the artist have contacted staff who were present and our co-commissioning partners at HOME to apologise... We do not support or condone reckless, inappropriate or intimidating behaviour and will work with our co-commissioning partners and artistic and producing teams to ensure that this doesn't happen again."

The play, based on Little Red Riding Hood, features the eponymous hero being saved from the belly of a wolf by a woodcutter: hence the axe being readily available as a stage prop. The Guardianhad said the play was "all style and no fangs" and was "humourless and sedate", while The Telegraph, describing it as a "vanity project", said that the script "simply isn’t very good."

Gordon, from Glasgow, won the Turner Prize in 1996, becoming the first video artist to win the award, and went on to win a string of international awards. 

We'd say his latest play is probably headed for the chop.

(Image: Shutterstock)