STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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Subtle subversion
SUSAN DARLINGTON sees a nuanced reinterpretation of Beauty and the Beast as a feminist fable
[Emma Kauldhar]
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis
The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
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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