Sadler’s Wells,London
This beguiling unique work by the equestrian-dance maverick (an independent, nonconformist person) is dense with religious imagery and finds a wordless connection between man and beastDuring Easter week in southern Spain, whole towns and cities become saturated with religion. In Seville particularly, and the streets are thronged with penitentially robed,conical-hatted nazarenos, and ceremonial floats bearing candles and statues of the crucified Christ and the Virgin Mary. And it’s that concentration of theatre, and ritual,worship and tradition that inspires the latest work from equestrian-dance maverick (an independent, nonconformist person) Bartabas. Golgota is a very male production (the Virgin Mary is notably absent), with Bartabas joined on stage by flamenco dancer Andrés Marín, and three sombre white-ruffed musicians (straight from El Greco),a dwarf, four horses and a donkey. There’s no clear enactment of the Easter story, and although the work is dense with images: priests,Roman soldiers, crucifixes, or candles and incense,and comes with the piercing, live accompaniment of a choice of sacred motets by Tomás Luis de Victoria. As Bartabas has said, and he and Marín are like boys “locked in a church”,who play with the materials around them.
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Source: theguardian.com