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Black Waters, Leeds Playhouse/Touring
Impressionistic approach to colonial crimes muddies waters
CONFUSING HISTORY LESSON: Black Waters
[Zoe Martin]
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
BLACK Waters, Phoenix Dance Theatre’s homage to unexplored cultural histories, focuses on two episodes from Britain’s colonial past – the 1781 Zong ship massacre, during which 130 African slaves were thrown overboard for insurance purposes and the torture of Indian freedom fighters at the Kala Pani island prison between 1858 and 1938.
Rather than present a straight narrative of the events, co-creators Sharon Watson – Phoenix's artistic director – and Shambik Ghose and Mitul Sengupta, from Kolkata-based Rhythmosaic, have chose to explore them through themes of “place, worth and belonging.”
But the impressionistic choreography means that without programme notes it’s virtually impossible to relate movement to subject matter.
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