Koos Sas: The Last Bushman of Montagu **** TNT
Right from the start, writer/director/composer Daniel Kramer’s charmingly jaunty but thoughtful musical (the second production in the Tricycle’s South African season) proves unexpectedly beguiling. Inspired by the discovery of a skull in the local history museum of the small town of Montagu, it’s a tale of oppression and racism and robbing of graves, as well as of the white man’s insulting fascination with ”hottentot” skeletons as a means of proving his own superiority.
Kramer frames it within the context of a love story and has created a clutch of quirky, predominantly likeable characters to show another side of the sheep-stealing outlaw who could outrun a horse and possessed an uncanny knack for slipping through the clutches of the authorities.
The dubious diamond smuggler turned photographer Scotty Lennox speaks English, but everybody else sings in Afrikaans. Clear surtitles ensure that the audience understands exactly what’s going on, and the lilting music lulls you into a campfire intimacy as Loukmaan Adams’ sweet voiced Koos Sas falls for Natalie Cervati’s orphaned Lenie. Robert Koen gets to ride a wire-framed horse as the policeman determined to track his elusive quarry (and he sings like a dream as a clergyman) whilst Jody Abrahams invests Lenie’s simple brother Skilpad with a cheeky instinct for survival.
Tricycle, Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR (020 7328 1000) to 1st August (£10 - £20.00)
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