Critical Reviews (Jonathan)
NY Times (Orignal) https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/02/theater/stage-soyinka-s-death-and-the-king-s-horseman.html
- From 1987 Times Archives
- Audience reviewed it as confusing but enthralling
- “During the first half, one hears the constant sound of Playbills rustling, as the audience tries to figure out what’s going on
- Wrote a preface and a program note
- Didnt want people to say it was a culture clash but that’s the way the drama comes across
- Intricate and lavish detailing of Yoruban cultural traditions.
- Poor acting dismissed anything the play had to say
“In his program note, the playwright argues that it would be ''facile,'' ''prejudicial'' and ‘reductionist' to say this work is about a ''clash of cultures.'' Yet that's the way the drama comes across here.“
The Guardian - National Theater
“In one sense, the play is a timely warning against the perils of "humanitarian intervention": in a key passage Olunde, the horseman's son, tells Pilkings's wife: "You have no respect for what you do not understand."
Received more warmly and critically
- Praised Rufus Norris for taking a challenging piece
- “This is tough stuff for a materialist British audience to take on board. But, in a stroke of radical daring, Norris makes it easier by presenting the play with an all-black cast that "whites" up to play the colonialists. This is a classic piece of Brechtian alienation that forces us to examine the issues at stake.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/apr/08/wole-soyinka-death-kings-horseman
- The Guardian - National Theater
- Talked about how he came to write the play
- Rufus Norris and Javier Defruots (choreographer) traveled to Nigeria
- Rufus grew up in Nigeria, and now is going back to research for Death and the King’s Horseman.
- Met with Wole Soyinka to discuss the original production
- Difficult for actors
- One actor left
- Said they were just as ignorant of African culture.
The Variety (National Theater)
"How's this for audacity? Dressed in stolen Yoruba tribal costumes signifying the honoring of death, a British ruling-class couple dances the Charleston. And, in this production, they're played by black actors in whiteface."
- Raved about costumes, set, lighting
- intricate costumes, stage magic, etc.
- praised the actors as well
- only con was the dramaturgy and the awkwardness of the back to back scenes.
- "His staging of “Death and the King’s Horseman” doesn’t heal all the structural rifts in Wole Soyinka’s 1975 play, but its blazing vigor and cumulative intensity prevail."
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