LANGUAGE NO BARRIER TO UNIVERSALITY AND TRAGICOMIC RICHNESS |
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) Photo: Matt Grace Written by William Shakespeare Translated by Te Haumihiata Mason Director: Rachel House Ngākau Toa at Globe Theatre, London From 23 Apr 2012 to 24 Apr 2012 [2hrs 30mins, incl. interval] Reviewed by Dominic Cavendish, 25 Apr 2012 originally published in The Telegraph |
Some of the finest tattooed buttocks on the planet were bared on the opening night of Globe to Globe, ushering in an unprecedented, six-week, non-stop, multilingual celebration of Shakespeare in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games. Ngakau Toa from Auckland, New Zealand, came, saw and conquered with their Maori Troilus and Cressida, thanks in part to an unforgettable curtain-call haka, in which eyes blazed, feet stomped, hands scythed the air and tongues waggled. Their stirring commitment and devotion couldn't have put the case more resoundingly for the value of what might sound like a madcap project.
The first of 37 shows in this marathon undertaking had no imported set and little in the way of clothing; female modesty was preserved with skirts and stylish dresses but among the men sometimes a plaited flax belt alone sufficed. Yet despite the cold, the rain, and ogling capacity crowd, you didn't detect so much as a goose-pimple or ripple of self-consciousness. [More]
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See also reviews by:
Andrew Dickson (The Guardian);
Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post);
John Smythe
Paul Diamond
Paul Simei-Barton (New Zealand Herald);