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London Fringe Opera Ibali looTsotsi (The Beggar's Opera) at Wiltons Music Hall October 16 -13 December 2002 * Winning over its audiences at Wiltons Music Hall by the vigour of its presentation, Ibali looTsotsi (a South African interpretation of The Beggar's Opera by Mark-Dornford-May and Charles Hazlewood) was not entirely problem free. This venerable Victorian music hall is the base of Broomhill Opera, whose always enterprising productions I have followed around southern England to its various homes. This version of The Beggar's Opera played at the end of 2002 in double bill with a revival of The Mysteries, a masterly recreation of biblical stories from Adam & Eve to Christ's resurrection, absolutely not to be missed. Broomhill Opera's collaborative project with South Africans of multiple ethnic background, who had never been out of their own country, was one of the most inspiring achievements to have reached London in recent years. As in The Mysteries, The Beggar's Opera is given multilingually in the company's mother tongues including English, Afrikaans, Xhosa & Zulu, employing vocal traditions to be found in South Africa, and notable for the energy of all involved, raising the roof in this historic venue, which is not far from the Tower of London. The instrumental accompaniments are mainly percussive and many of the familiar tunes from the Gay/Pepusch original are given unaccompanied, which over-taxes some of the singing actors. The story is however easy to follow and is re-imagined at Wilton's in a combination of "old England and new South Africa" - (surfing the Web for The Beggar's Opera I have chanced upon the whole text, to read or download free, at http://www.bibliomania.com/ , a valuable resource). Try to catch ibali looTsotsi and enjoy it, but don't on any account miss ujiimimangalisco (The Mysteries), one of the previous 2001 season's greatest triumphs, which I saw twice - it has also been filmed at Wiltons for release on video. Peter Grahame Woolf
* The
Mysteries is returning to the West End for a short season
at the Peacock Theatre 3-8 March 2003 (tickets online from www.sadlerswells.com
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