EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
Subtle subversion
SUSAN DARLINGTON sees a nuanced reinterpretation of Beauty and the Beast as a feminist fable
[Emma Kauldhar]
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Sunny Dancer, Tony, Songs of Forgotten Trees, and The End of Oak Street
JOHN GREEN relishes a powerful and moving drama that explores the lived realities of west London’s Punjabi community
MARTIN HALL welcomes a plea for greater compassion between believer and non-believer via the framework of philosophical enquiry
TORO: Beauty and the Bull
Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds/Touring
THE DENADA dance theatre company is an international group of dancers, most of whom are of Hispanic or Latino descent and their mission is to promote cultural, gender and sexual equality and diversity through a unique mix of contemporary dance, classical ballet, flamenco and Latino dance.
Thus it proves in TORO: Beauty and the Bull. Feminist re-readings of fairytales are now well established, but the company pushes the boundaries further by transforming the fairytale Beauty And The Beast into a a dystopian moral narrative for other oppressed groups.
It opens in a prostitute’s parlour, with four men fighting for the attentions of The Girl (Emma Walker). Indifferent to how they use her body, they pull her across the stage and hump her as she lies inert, making bored seductive gestures to the Latino music.
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