Turner prize-winner damages concrete walls of £25m Home, venue which is hosting his poorly received play, Neck of the Woods

A Turner prize-winning artist who is directing a play at the Manchester international festival has been hit with a repair bill after taking an axe to the walls of a new £25m theatre. Douglas Gordon, who won the Turner in 1996 for his video piece, Confessions of a Justified Sinner, signed and dated the damage to the concrete walls of the Home venue, where his show Neck of the Woods is being staged.

The play, which stars the Broadchurch actor Charlotte Rampling and is based on the children’s fable Little Red Riding Hood, has received several poor reviews.

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Glasgow-born Gordon, 48, won several international awards after landing the Turner, including the Venice Bienniale Premio, the Rencontres d’Arles and the prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Alex Poots, the chief executive and artistic director of Manchester international festival (MIF), 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.

“MIF is an artist-led festival. We support artists to make ambitious new work. 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.”

It is understood that the axe involved in the incident was a stage prop from the set and, according to Gordon’s daubings, the damage was inflicted after the third performance of the play on Saturday night at 10.28pm. The artist also drew the outline of a wolf’s paw around the dent in an apparent nod to the production.