Hall for Cornwall: We, Caliban by Shobana Jeyasingh Dance

It's really difficult to write a review for this performance because it is obvious that every aspect of the production was put together by people at the top of their skills.  It's just, it wasn't for me, although there were aspects I can appreciate a lot and found very interesting.

My biggest issue was the music.  The score was composed by Thierry Pecou, a modern French composer.  I understand that composers like this are important.  They push boundaries and this is a well regarded genre of music.  It's just not comfortable, for someone like me, to listen to.  I get that art is often to move people out of their comfort zone.  I wouldn't have minded sections of such music, but the entire performance, and the curtain opener performance, were set to it

I understand that this is probably an elevated sort of performance, more art than entertainment.  It's just I don't think I have that sort of palate.  I think many people in the audience were also uncomfortable.  For me, the music made it harder to get in to the dance and overall performance and it just didn't match the performance or the story.  I accept that this may show ignorance on my part.  I understand from watching a video about the show, that the music was composed in close collaboration with Shebana,  so the choreography and music would match.  Music is such an integral part of a show like this, that it's just tricky.

There was a curtain opener where five local dancers performed.  They had worked with the members of the dance group for a week to put the performance together.  This is considered an important part of te dance groups work.

Shobana Jeyasingh is a British choreographer who was born in India.  She is trained in Bharata Natyam which is the classical dance of Tamil Nadu.  She studied Shakespeare as part of English Literature studies.  Her dance company was founded in 1989 and she has put together a large number of critically acclaimed works in collaboration with professionals in a wide range of disciplines.  

The dance was amazing and the dancers were incredibly skilled.  I would describe it as contemporary.  Shebana is known for Asian influences, and I am sure they are there, it's just they were not overt enough for someone of my limited dance knowledge to pick out.  I don't know that it really matters for someone like me, I am never going to understand all the technical intricacies of dance.

I would go to a Shobana Jeyasingh production again, but I would be careful and check the music in advance. It makes such a huge difference.

The production was interesting but quite simple.  The backdrop was a curtain of fringe that the dancers could move through.  There was also a wind machine that caused the curtain to shimmer, and during the storm, the fringe moved more.  Lights were projected from behind the fringe, from above, and there was also a projection on to it.  I sound the projection especially beautiful as the fringe moved and it made this display especially vibrant.

If you are expecting the full story of the Tempest, then this is not it.  People have previously considered the Tempest as an allegory for colonialism and this production explored that.  Caliban was not a monstrous individual, but an indigenous island people, although there was a central male figure who had a relationship with Miranda.  So I guess there was a We, Caliban and an I, Caliban.

The projections and voice aspects of the soundtrack made the colonial aspects of this production clear from the beginning.  It began with an excerpt from a letter from Queen Elizabeth I conferring the right upon Sir Walter Raleigh, and his descendants, to seek out new lands not occupied by Christian peoples.

The production begins and finishes with Caliban peoples on the island.  Life existed on this island before Europeans came.  And it existed after they left, although it was not as it had been before.  Prospero enslaved the people there and bent them to his will.  He considered them depraved savages with no cultural worth.  This was not an uncommon view at the time.  Miranda teaches her language to Caliban, although it never occurs to her that he might have a language of his own.

This cultural difference continues.  European society has many expectations of behaviour and this is even more pronounced amongst the nobility.  There are huge expectations on how to interact with a lady and of course, Caliban knows none of them.  Caliban's approaches are direct as he responds to Miranda's flirtations but fails to understand the subtleties Miranda expects.  And yet, they come together.

Of course, this relationship is doomed.  A lady such as Miranda would never marry a depraved savage such as Caliban.  Her father engineers and conspires to have her marry Ferdinand, a suitable suitor.  The dance here from Miranda is similar to that with Caliban, except it is clear that Ferdinand understands the social queues and there is greater harmony, even as Prospero nudges them repeatedly to ensure they come together.

After the Europeans leave, Caliban dances with an indigenous female.  Its clear their dancing is more harmonious but also that everything has changed for them.

One of the biggest debates is whether or not Caliban raped Miranda.  In this production, it is clear he didn't although to Prospero, it was entirely inappropriate that they should have been intimate.  It was clear he considered Caliban depraved and Miranda an entirely innocent victim.  She was no victim in this retelling.  Obviously no Christian gentleman would do such a thing.

It is important that we reconsider colonialism.  That we read the documents of the time and reinterpret them in light of current understandings.  Other religions are just as valid as Christianity.  Our societal customs are no better than those of other cultures, mostly.  I can not get behind some things like cannibalism and head hunting!  There is a suggestion that Caliban the name comes from the word cannibal.  We denigrated and ignored oral histories but increasingly we are being forced to accept the accuracy of these traditions.

So it was an interesting concept and in many ways masterfully executed.  It just was too edgy and modern in many ways to connect with an audience of average people.  A little too arty?