BALLET: Stanley Peskin
IN several ballet and film versions, the story of Spartacus and the slave rebellion has been mythologised, canonised, museumised, reorganised and overworked. This dehydrating process is equally apparent in Youri Vamos’ Spartacus (1989), presented by the Basler Ballet at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg.
The ballet shows the intersecting destinies of the freedom fighter and his fascist oppressor, Crassus. Spartacus has two extended hallucinations in which he relives crucial events in his past: his relationship with his wife and a gladiatorial battle with an African. His memories coincide with Crassus’ recollection of the killing of the African, which we see twice without any noticeable gain in intensity or meaning.
Vamos’ choreography is an unwieldy mix of neo-classicism and modern dance, and has neither heroic sweep nor lyrical passion. The abuse of the women by debauched Roman soldiers is tame; a divertissement danced by four brightly coloured tumblers with curly wigs that look like Esther Williams bathing caps is risible; revolutionary fervour looks disconcertingly like disco dancing in The Dungeon. And in the several military and gladiator sequences, there are many bare buttocks if not privates on parade. Perhaps the essential content in the ballet is homo-erotic and this diminishes Spartacus’ heroism.
Nor is the dancing riveting enough to make one overlook these failings. The most distinguished work comes from the excellent corps de ballet and Jorg Simon who is a most incisive Crassus. Paul Boyd dances well as Spartacus, but he lacks charisma to be a formidable opponent to Crassus. As Varynia Joyce Cuoco looks too androgynous to convey the character’s vulnerability or to afford visual pleasure.
Vamos is in love with special effects and with the assistance of his stage and lighting designers (Michael Scott and Hermann Munzer) the spectacle is undoubtedly impressive. A huge crucifix dominates the stage and the action to suggest the ennobling virtue of suffering. Vamos would have us believe that ultimately loyalty and love cannot be destroyed, but his ballet does not make either a convincing or moving argument.