The Kali Theatre Company
 | | The Kali Theatre Company |
The final day began in the Library Theatre with the Kali Theatre Company performing an excerpt from their production Calcutta Kosher. The play explores the relationships between four Jewish Indian women. Set in Calcutta, we see three daughters coming to terms with their different relationships with their mother, each other and, indeed, themselves. As the mother’s secret history is exposed the dramatic tensions between past/present, east/west and memory/truth explode and leave the women questioning identity, belonging and the meaning of family. Whilst all four women gave good performances, there was a lack of intensity that undermined the play. It was light and enjoyable but fell short of being the domestic drama that I felt it hoped to be. There was a sense that ideas and dramatic conventions were thrown in for good measure without really considering their impact or significance. Calcutta Kosher felt like a jangle of interesting ideas that failed to strike a united chord. Tunde Jegede Ensemble
 | | Tunde Jegede |
Tunde Jegede Ensemble’s performance in the Zion Arts Centre was an interesting fusion of African and Western classical traditions. A classical western quartet was juxtaposed with musicians playing instruments, such as the Kora and Balafon, that have their roots in West African musical culture. Musician and composer Tunde Jegede lead the ensemble. Each member gave a very accomplished performance and the concert was innovative and enjoyable. One drawback was that, frequently, it felt that rather than fusing the two musical traditions, the compositions superimposed one style on top of the other. This meant that their union was self-conscious and unbalanced. At times it felt like there were two separate concerts being performed. Rather than interacting, the two genres jostled uncomfortably side by side. A further criticism would be that, as with so many of the performers this week, the ensemble tried unsuccessfully to use visuals to accompany their sound. The images attempted to offer narrative depth but they were imprecise and incoherent. Nevertheless, it was an inventive concert with beautiful, if unsynchronised sounds. Robin Deacon
 | | Robin Deacon |
My final place in an audience was for a show entitled Colin Powell. This piece of spoken word/ performance art was written, produced and performed by Robin Deacon. The work took the form of the lecture - albeit one in which we never saw the lecturer’s face - and ostensibly confronted the parallel experiences of Powell and Deacon. The initial premise is that Deacon bears a remarkable, nay uncanny resemble to his eponymous hero. However, this central theme allows the social political issues to spring forth as Deacon explores the ways in which we approach identity, race and success. His script contained echoes of Alain de Botton’s novel Status Anxiety and the journalistic style of Gary Younge. His provocative approach unsettled the audience in an effective manner as he demonstrated the radical potential of the performance space. Deacon offers no answers and uses the lecture form to provoke rather than dictate often with deliberately inflammatory statements designed to poke the audience into new approaches to issues. With an articulate and evocative voice, Deacon offered a thoughtful and exciting end to a fantastic week. | 
