How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 4 April 2013
This a theatre review of SUTRA. |
“The name Sutra, taken literally, is a rope or thread that holds things together. Metaphorically, it is a rule, or set of rules, also binding. In Buddhism, the term was originally given to the sermons of Buddha.”
Sadler’s Wells, London. A sold out auditorium. The second time I’m seeing the work. The first time was several years ago. It astounded me. Marrying modern dance with martial arts into something exhilarating. I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to see SUTRA again. No sir. Not only is SUTRA a team up of choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (see his wondrous skill in Joe Wright’s film, ANNA KARENINA) and award-winning sculptor Anthony Gormley, but a collaboration with the monks from the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China. Such disparate talents and mindsets coming together might have been a car crash in the wrong hands. It wasn’t.
Sadler’s Wells, London. A sold out auditorium. The second time I’m seeing the work. The first time was several years ago. It astounded me. Marrying modern dance with martial arts into something exhilarating. I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to see SUTRA again. No sir. Not only is SUTRA a team up of choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (see his wondrous skill in Joe Wright’s film, ANNA KARENINA) and award-winning sculptor Anthony Gormley, but a collaboration with the monks from the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China. Such disparate talents and mindsets coming together might have been a car crash in the wrong hands. It wasn’t.
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At just one hour, no one outstays their welcome, though a star is lost for entertainment on two fronts:
- 30 minutes more would’ve created something perhaps attaining the sublime, and
- Director-choreographer Cherkaoui is missed in the lead, replaced by the of course competent, but his absence is felt nonetheless.
Those minor quibbles aside, you’re in for a treat, where grace and power are epitomised in 19 people.
Opening on a game in the foreground. A Westerner (Ali Thabet in the role) playing a young boy, a Shaolin apprentice. There are small blocks. Behind them the same number of blocks are set up in a replicated formation, they are man-sized. A monk appears. As Thabet moves his hand, the Shaolin monk reflects, as if controlled by a thread, in a whirling display of swordsmanship. The blocks turn out to be hollow and coffin-shaped, with a monk in each, 17 in total. Over the course of the performance, these boxes prove to be highly versatile, converting the stage into a setting for a fortress, a boat, a dormitory, etc. etc.
The kid proves just as adept as his older peers in terms of demonstrating the formidable potential of the human body to be a dangerous weapon, and an instrument of communication. Restraint and curiosity and prowess and understanding are touched upon. The mind and body, the heart and soul. Camaraderie is the ultimate expression. For all the august individual displays (such as an EXORCIST-style spider walk), it is when the troop are working in unison, that something special emerges. The final crescendo makes the spirits soar with its energy. Fusion theatre can be so potent.
The 37th Chamber.