Cultural Dessert

'A Christmas Carol - Ikrismas Kherol' adapted and directed by Mark Dornford-May

4 January 2008

Between Christmas and New Year we headed into London to the Young Vic theatre to see Mark Dornford-May's adaptation of Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' performed by his company of young black performers from Khayelitsha, South Africa. It was a great spectacle with a cast of 30, some great acting, wonderful singing, lovely stagecraft and amazing dancing. Shifting the story to a South African township worked effectively to highlight how little we have progressed in the last 150 years in terms of 'ignorance' and 'want'. I liked the parallel between the mine of Northern England where the conditions he encountered inspired Dickens to write 'A Christmas Carol' and the South African diamond mine scenes at the start of the play. I thought the back-projected film in the 'Christmas past' section was a little over-used and, at times, the hustle and bustle of the action obscured some of the dialogue. But it was an enjoyable and inspiring production and I was bowled over by the fantastic choreography (by Lungelo Ngamlana).

Labels: Musicals, Theatre

posted by Robin Simpson @ 11:49 am