Gumboots!

At The Oxford Playhouse until Saturday 6th November

"Twelve sexy, stomping, singing, shouting, laughing geniuses". That's how the Australian press described the Gumboots cast. Not wishing to hide behind British reserve (which is one thing this show doesn't have), I should like to add 'sweaty' to the list. Glistening, bare-chested dancers' bodies not five minutes into the action were testament to the energy, the power, that moved from hand to boot to stage then theatre. The heat of the moment was also, though, a reminder of the roots of the bottle-topped gumboot dance routines-a reminder of the conditions of the mines where it all began. During 'Shosholoza'-a song every South African would know-the dancers/singers raised a minehead as backdrop to an economical but effective stage and sang of the need for work, migrant labour, and death.
However, over the 90 minutes (no interval) the all-male cast sang also of companionship, girls, hope, and love. With close, rich harmonies so typical of Southern African singersand an enviable rapport with their audience, the cast's vivacity was infectious. Young and old alike in the audience found themselves involved, responsive. We were transported seamlessly from scene to scene-these painted not with elaborate stage props but in the casts' facial expressions, wide eye movements and flicks of the hips.
There is certainly a fusion of western and African cultures in this show. Despite sorghum beer, Nelson Mandela, and the occasional Sotho, Zulu or Xhosa stream of consciousness, guitars, moonwalks-and the tiniest suggestion of camp-make this no anthropologist's field trip. But perhaps this-along with the sheer enthusiastic physicality of the cast-is what has made this show so successful on a world stage. Zenzi Mbuli, director of Gumboots and of international renown knows what makes audiences tick.
If you don't go to any other show this year, go to this one. If you can secure a ticket. The theatre was practically full last night and I can see audience numbers only growing for the rest of this week. Take your set of white teeth and show them if you're sitting in the fifth row. Before your next brisk tramp across Port Meadow in those green wellies make sure you've experienced the exuberant, hot, African equivalent.
Gumboots is showing at the Playhouse nightly this week with two performances on Saturday 6 November.

SCMS