You cannot go wrong with a Romeo and Juliet story. This one isn’t inspired by Shakespeare but South African writer RL Peteni’s 1976 novel Hill of Fools, which has a similar set-up: two warring villages and two lovers caught in between. You can tell from the off this won’t end well.
Choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November, Fools is set in a South African township – a minimal but effective set has a street lamp, telegraph lines and a corrugated metal wall. The Thembu and Hlubi villagers, represented by a marginally different colour palette for their costumes, at first show a jovial, teasing rivalry. But the union of the central couple (Harris Beattie and Sarah Chun) is too much for the forceful ego of Antoni Cañellas Artigues, the self-styled protector of Chun’s character. He eats up the stage with hungry leaps and bristling aggro.
