CARNIVAL MESSIAH. To 27 July.
Leeds
CARNIVAL MESSIAH
by Geraldine Connor and Mark Tillotson
Quarry Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse To 27 July 2002
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thur & Sat 2pm
Runs 2hr 50min One interval
TICKETS 0113 2137700
Review Timothy Ramsden 18 July
An absolute joy, splendidly performed, from exuberant beginning to climactic end. After the South African Mysteries 2002 offers a second culturally-diverse look at the story of Christ, here mixing Christianity, Yoruba and Caribbean religion and celebration. There's a hefty dose of reworked Handel too. Out of the mix comes a disparate myth held together by an outstandingly colourful staging.
It's a sign of the show's confidence that it opens with the kind of onstage explosion most shows would be happy to build to as a conclusion. Following a Creation-tree figure, who reappears cyclically, with two dancing attendants whose flowing headpieces, together with the liquid stream of accompanying steel-drum notes suggests a river-run, the crowd celebrations begin.
It's an inclusive occasion, with its ethnically diverse, celebratory crowds. And Carnival is as diverse in its theatrical expression. Human comedy is exploited in the Annunciation and the accommodation difficulties in Bethlehem - the sort of events we make amusing stories of in our own lives, though they didn't seem funny at the time. The punning use of luggage (open-and-shut case, case closed) reaches Vaudeville levels.
The vivacity is matched by dark intensity in the downbeat sections. The 40 days & nights temptation scene has a due, non-musical, aridity while the darkness at noon section which grows from Handel's 'He Was Despised', takes us from the Garden of Gethsemane narrative into a more abstract depiction of the good v evil struggle, with two massive-winged creatures battling it out in movement patterns. Here too, the stage is filled with the kind of black, crawling figures that might have kept Coleridge's Ancient Mariner awake at might.
Sheer decibel force soon uses up its impress-you quotient; surprise and unexpected restraint are also part of Connor's performance armoury. Nowhere more than in the inevitable moment of any Messiah-derivative, the 'Halleluiah Chorus', which is introduced, almost out of the action, by a sober-dressed steel band wheeled on for this single occasion. By contrast, the show's final ten minutes, leading into the curtain-call, are an explosion of joy to set the heart leaping as well as the ears ringing: I'd defy anyone to sit through them and not feel glad to be alive.
Mother Earth'HalleluiaH Singer: Ella Andall
Mama God: Jean 'Binta' Breeze/Michelle Scally-Clarke
Mama God's alter ego/Shango Adept: Donald Edwards
Mama God's alter ego: Genevieve Say
Chantuelle/Joseph/Lone Disciple: Brian Green
Pierrot Grenade: Alyson Brown
Shango Adept/Robber/Joseph's Brother/Voice of Truth: Ronald Samm
The Seven Minstrels: Jeremy Dobbs/Ben Fox/Kerry Frampton/Ram John Holder/Glenda McSween/Benedicte Seierup/Nigel Wong
Mary: Anne Fridal
Ragga Storyteller/!HalleluiaH! Singer: Tom Briggs-Davies
Ragga Storyteller's Assistant/!HalleluiaH! Singer: Paulette Morris
Shango Adept/Market Dancer/Eshu, the Dark Angel: David Hamilton
Kathak Dancer: Jaymini Chauhan
Pontius Pilate: Jojo
Jesus/The Two Thieves: Ernest Brew/Dave Mitchell/Laura Thorpe
Shango Adept/Dove of Peace/Carnival Messiah: Alyson Brown
Shango Adept/Dove's Attendant: Ayo Jones
Gospel Singers: Colleen Scott/Linda Peltier-Binns
!HalleluiaH! Singers: Kirsty Almeida/Stella Litras/Cara Robinson
Community Chorus: Jessica Ahmed, Dan Amis, Leonie Avenant, Hayley Beasley, Marva Bell, Pat Bell, Linda Peltier-Binns, Louise Burton, Paula Cunningham, Chantelle Davis, Ruth Dunstan, Emmanuel Egipto, Nkem Emenike, Valeri Frederick, Lyndsey Holmes, Simon Howarth, Jojo, Helen Kennedy, Camilla Limon, Kete Lowe, Sophina Maynard, Saffia Morris, Hayley Mort, Michelle Moseley, Kizzy Neat, Louise Nicoll, Tessa Parr, Emile Peltier, Hannah Pollard, Nicole Quartermain, Bhavini Raval, Joan Redican, Genevieve Say, Ulla Silvennoinen, Lisa Strachan, Laura Tudhope, Kevin Ulaya, Suzanne Vaughan
Children's Chorus: Papaya Team Rachael Frederick, Bianca Gerald, Claire Howarth, Mercedes Somers, Jiordan Thompson, Lorenzo Thompson, Carrie Winfield, Danny Winfield
Guava Team Katrina Brown, Olivia Buckley, Nakita Chohan, Maria Dos Santas, Joshua Johnson, Leon johnson, Kimberley Lister, Anna Silverman, Emma Stoker
Choir company Rachel Bartlett, Hubert Bell, Sangeeta Chana, Joy johnson, Ioney King, Colleen Scott, Margaret Smith, Shirleecia Wilkinson, Janet Winfield
Community Steelband Rosalind Coleman, Charlotte Emery, Christopher Friend, Dave Gudgeon, Victoria Jaquiss, Esther Keevash, Natalie Marks, Hayley Miller, Richard Ormord, Stewart Paton, Philip Pemberton, Becky Smith, Christine Smith, Katie Smith, Tanya Sobolewski, Thomas Sobolewski, Jan Spencer, Trish Walsh, Alicia Whitehead, Georgia Witt
Directors: Geraldine Connor/Mark Tillotson
Designer: Wayne Berkeley
Lighting: Robert Bryan
Sound: Glen Massam
Masquerade/Costume Designer: Clary Salandy
Choreographer: Carol La Chapelle
Musical Director: Michael Lovelock
Steelband Director: Dudley Nesbitt
2002-07-23 16:41:12