Reviews

A joyous cast, a hard-working ensemble and an on-stage band give Cole Poter’s High Society a big jolt of adrenaline in Villanova’s final production for the year. Unlike the MGM movie, which was set in the 50s this 1997 adaptation takes it back twenty years earlier and allows for the inclusion of a swag of Porter songs from that period, and some stunningly elegant gowns.

The most striking aspect of this production is the performance of Perci Moeketsi as Nelson Mandela. He beautifully captures the grace, calm and vision of the man who went from prisoner to President.

Born in South Africa, he was a young child when Mandela was released from prison and benefited from the new educational opportunities that a post-apartheid regime offered him.  

The pride he feels in portraying this role is very evident.

Overall the production is part musical, part dance and part documentary in style.

‘Sutra’ in Sanskrit means ‘string’ or ‘thread’. In the extraordinarily dynamic OzAsia Festival production of Sutra, Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui certainly connects with his audience, masterfully threading together dance, martial arts, music and sculpture. This piece is celebrating its tenth anniversary since first being performed at Sadler’s Wells. It has toured the world and it is not difficult to see its appeal.

Krapp (Max Gillies) sits alone behind a desk under a harsh downlight.  Outside that circle of light, the adaptable but suddenly vast fortyfivedownstairs space recedes into gloom and then black.  When Mr Gillies leaves the light, he disappears, and his presence is indicated by the sounds of whatever he is doing out there in the darkness.  Does he not want us to know what he does out there?  No.  That is a choice Krapp has made – to keep things separate while he excoriates himself.