Have you been to see one of the productions below? What did you think of it? Share your opinions with other users by clicking on the 'comment' button at the bottom of the review.
Veil, Brighton Corn Exchange, Brighton, April 18
Veil is not only an evocative and haunting work but, unlike much visual theatre, presents a multilayered narrative full of depth and nuance.
The central characters are twin sisters separated at birth and brought up in different cultures. The girls are born to an Iraqi woman raped by a Western archaeologist, who then steals one of the babies and returns home, along with the treasures he has removed from the desert.
The human story is a reflection of wider themes; of the pillaging of the country's past, the influence of culture and the current conflict.
The girls' nightmares and sense of loss and separation seem to be a metaphor for the fears and mistrust separating East and West.
The production itself is also multilayered. The narrative is played out using voices and visuals, puppetry and lighting, music mime and masks. The masks are a veil across the characters emotions and yet feelings are conveyed through body shape and gesture; through Loz Kaye's mournful, lamenting score; and by a beautifully lit set which evokes the eyeblinking glare of the desert.
In the second half, the families' fragmented story moves west. The girls, now grown women, eventually being reunited at an exhibition of the ageing archaeologist's treasures. Again the secrets and lies of family life being echoed in wider conflicts of culture and identity.
This is Horse and Bamboo's 30th anniversary production and is a beautiful exposition of their visually arresting theatre. It is complex, but works wonderfully well on many levels, asking questions but allowing the audience to delve behind the veil as deeply as they want to.
8:55am Monday 21st April 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
