Royal Opera House, London
Mthuthuzeli November expertly fuses ballet, contemporary and South African dance in Fools. Plus five minutes of fun from Kristen McNally and Rudi van Dantzig’s Four Last Songs
You cannot go wrong with a Romeo and Juliet story. This one isn’t inspired by Shakespeare but South African writer RL Peteni’s 1976 novel Hill of Fools, which has a similar set-up: two warring villages and two lovers caught in between. You can tell from the off this won’t end well.
Choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November, Fools is set in a South African township – a minimal but effective set has a street lamp, telegraph lines and a corrugated metal wall. The Thembu and Hlubi villagers, represented by a marginally different colour palette for their costumes, at first show a jovial, teasing rivalry. But the union of the central couple (Harris Beattie and Sarah Chun) is too much for the forceful ego of Antoni Cañellas Artigues, the self-styled protector of Chun’s character. He eats up the stage with hungry leaps and bristling aggro.
At the Linbury theatre, Royal Opera House, London, until 31 January
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