Don Quichotte du Trocadéro @ Festival Theatre

Review by Stephanie Green | 19 Sep 2013

A video of Don Quichotte riding a horse and later a donkey on a platform of the Paris Metro whilst a bemused gentleman watches (who later turns out to be Cervantes) is one of the most delightful and zany images of this unashamedly populist performance directed by José Montalvo, of the Théatre National de Chaillot.

Not much of the Petipa ballet is left, though it was the original inspiration and the music composed by Minkus is blended with electronic sounds by French composer Sayem. As Don Quichotte, played by the comic actor Patrice Thibaud, journeys on the Metro, not to Mantua, but to various Trocadéro dance-halls, we are treated to classical ballet, contemporary dance, urban dance, flamenco and tap: a potentially inspired celebration of multiculturalism. A brilliant concept but what a shame, Don Quichotte, though inspirational and great fun at times, is often also tedious, and mostly hugely disappointing.

Some of the individual dances are stunning, in particular the flamenco danced by Sharon Sultan in black dress and eye-catching red shoes, the thrilling syncopation on the castanets and also the tap dancing by Jérémie Champagne, especially when the two perform a percussive call and response duet of castanets and tap-shoes. The urban dancers vary enormously; some extremely underwhelming, others such as Simhamed Benhalima (aka 'Seam Dancer'), the world-renowned hip-hop artist, who plays Sancho Panza, giving us an electrifying performance of leaps, somersaults and head-spinning. Blaise Kouakou's African-inspired song and dance routine has the audience grooving in their seats. The classical ballet dancers are superb and also Natacha Balet performs some impressive contemporary dance melded with urban dance twitches and jerks, but you feel sorry for her being forced to endure Quichotte's offensive sexist fondling of her breasts. Is this meant to be funny?

It certainly does not make the audience warm to Thibaud's portrayal of Quichotte. Much of Thibaud's miming is also rather tedious – the only occasion we are won over is when Quichotte forces Panza to walk round him in a circle, both clutching a guitar. The sequence then morphs into a horse-training session.  Regrettably, this kind of imaginative leap does not happen very often. The high pointof the show is when a multi-racial crowd wait for their train and there is inspired ensemble dancing, but instead of ending on this glorious climax, the dancers came on and perform their individual spots yet again. However good some of them are, you find yourself looking at your watch. Of course, Cervantes' novel is inherently episodic, but this is no excuse to be rambling and repetitive, with no sense of structure.

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