Who is Claude Cahun? by D.R. Hill brings to the stage the remarkable and lesser-known true story of Lucy Schwob (Rivkah Bunker) and Suzanne Malherbe (Amelia Armande), a lesbian French couple whose courageous acts of artistic resistance challenged the German occupation of Jersey during the Second World War. Known by their male pseudonyms, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, these pioneering figures lived at the intersection of surrealism, queer identity, and political dissent. Their work, rediscovered in part thanks to TV documentaries and an exhibition curated by David Bowie in 2007, now stands as an inspiring testament to personal defiance and creative subversion.
Hill’s script sets out to honour Cahun and Moore’s legacy by exploring the forces that shaped them — their childhoods, their artistic awakening in Paris, and their eventual retreat to Jersey, where their art became an instrument of subversive propaganda against the Nazi regime. The Southwark Playhouse production adopts a non-linear approach, moving back and forth through time in an attempt to capture not only the spirit of surrealism that so defined Cahun’s work, but also glimpses of the childhood trauma that may have fuelled it.
Yet, despite the richness of the source material, the play too often skims the surface of its subjects. We see glimpses of the pair’s private rituals of roleplay and disguise, but rarely do we feel the deeper emotional or psychological undercurrents that must have fuelled their acts of resistance, and their personal relationship. Scenes involving the local villagers, Nazi officers, and other peripheral characters feel thinly drawn and at times slide into cliché, rather than offering fresh insight into the tension and danger of life under occupation. The production’s style, too, feels inconsistent: a broad, almost pantomimic performance mode for the surrealist moments sits uneasily alongside scenes meant to convey genuine menace and emotional gravity, creating a tone that feels fragmented overall.
The ensemble — Sharon Drain, Ben Bela Böhm, and Gethin Alderman — take on multiple supporting roles, but the script offers them too few opportunities to develop these parts beyond broad strokes.The surrealist montages, mask work, and physical sequences seek to find creativity and inventiveness, but often lack the cohesion and precision needed to lift them above pastiche. Meanwhile, the emotional bond between Cahun and Moore — surely the heart of the piece — struggles to move beyond the superficial, leaving the audience at a distance from their extraordinary courage and whatever deeper understanding they may have had. Armande, who emerges at the end of the piece as the true ‘artist with no name’, was the more convincing of the two main actresses.
Visually, the production makes use of a modest, makeshift set to evoke numerous settings, and we see flashes of video montage during the surrealist scenes. But given the inherently theatrical possibilities of Cahun’s aesthetic, one wishes for a bolder visual language and a stronger sense of style and daring.
At its core, Who is Claude Cahun? shines a welcome spotlight on two artists whose influence and defiance deserve far greater recognition. There is real sincerity in the attempt to give them voice and form on stage. However, the weighty demands of the subject matter, combined with the production’s limited resources and an uneven script, mean that the piece rarely achieves the depth or impact their story warrants. Well-intentioned though it is, the production feels overextended — unable to sustain momentum or emotional coherence over its two-hour running time, and ultimately falls short of doing full justice to the complex legacy of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore.
Southwark Playhouse – Borough, Little Theatre
Who is Claude Cahun?
By: D.R. Hill
Director: David Furlong
Photo credit: Paddy Gormley
Set Design: Juliette Demoulin
Cast: Rivkah Bunker, Amelia Armande, Sharon Drain, Ben Bela Böhm, and Gethin Alderman
Until: 12 July
Running time: just over 2 hours, including 1 interval
Reviewed by: Wilder Gutterson
23rd June 2025