THE WEDDING DANCE To 7 April 2007.

Birmingham.

THE WEDDING DANCE
by Felix Cross.

Bolton Octagon/Nitro Tour to 7 April 2007.
Runs: 2hr 15min One interval.
Review: Rod Dungate, 14 March at Birmingham Rep.

Intriguing, great dancing, but lacks sufficient depth.
THE WEDDING DANCE is an intriguing glimpse into two worlds – Cuba and the life of a Cuban in Britain, and salsa (which must be ‘danced like lovers but not as lovers.’)

London school teacher, Rita, visits Cuba in search of the ideal state and falls for trainee doctor, Jose. A whirlwind romance later, they come, married, to London to Rita’s flat (though Rita would have preferred to move to Cuba). Jose drops his studies and takes to teaching salsa at which he’s a great success. However his guiding principle might be thought to be that salsa should be danced AS lovers (see above) particularly in the case of young and naïve Miranda. She has turned up at Jose’s class with her equally naïve fiancé, Julian; they aim to dance a salsa as their first dance at their wedding.

The dancing is fabulous and the play interesting. But Cross would do well to follow his interests more and twist the play less to fit it into his chosen tragedy form. There is a tendency of ‘staginess’ and I ached for more development and less sacrificing of character to plot.

Hence, the full potential of scenes, say, between Jose’s dance partner Kathleen and new bloke, businessman, Jonathan is lost in dialogue too thin to dance on safely. Troy Titus-Adams’s performance of Kathleen is first-class; easy-going, you always feel there is more beneath, her performance is, surely, restricted by the role as written.

David Gyasi plays Jose – he perfectly captures the charming waster; one senses something deeper . . . but then isn’t that the trick of the charming waster? Natasha Bain (Rita, the school teacher) is charming but I find her naïveté difficult to believe in – not her fault I suspect. Cross never mines the real emotional possibilities within this relationship; a mining fault that weakens the play elsewhere, too.

There’s a lovely use of half-hidden macho dancers when Jose moves into salsa seduction-mode, drawing our attention to the roots and nature of this exciting dance.

Miranda: Madeline Appiah.
Rita: Natasha Bain.
Julian: Anthony Mark Barrow.
Jonathan: Ben Bennett.
Jose: David Gyasi.
Dancers: Daniel Hughes, Ann Marie Lennon, Ernesto de la Cruz Valdes,Zoraima Segon Valdes.
Kathleen: Troy Titus-Adams.

Director: Felix Cross.
Designer: Ruth Finn.
Lighting: Ian Scott.
Sound: Andy Smith.
Composer: Alex Wilson.
Choreographer/Co-Director: Debra Michaels.
Dance Captain: Ann Marie Lennon.
Dramaturg: Philip Osment.

2007-03-14 16:40:26