Sydney Reviews

Photos - Pascal Victor / ArtComArt

11 and 12 is a sublime parable about the universal commandment given to Christians and Muslims alike, ‘Thou shalt not kill’. English director Peter Brook, a theatre maestro whose career spans nearly 70 years, has created a simple, profound work about conflict. It’s allegorical theatre for our time intertwining themes of religion, politics, race and colonisation with seamless elegance.

11 and 12 are the number of times a prayer is recited and the conflict between the followers of each. A shek arrives late and his followers recite the prayer a twelfth time to cover any embarrassment. The recitation of the extra prayer continues until those who still recite it eleven times are deemed agitators and spies and brought before French colonial administrators.

How can, asks Brook in his notes, theological discussion about the hidden meaning of two numbers lead inexorably to a massacre?

The original production of 11 and 12 was staged by the Barbican Centre in London, in conjunction with Theatre des Bouffes du Nord and the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland. The cast brings together African, European, American, Palestinian and Japanese performers. It is this ‘colour blind’ casting that makes the insights resonate with any audience.

Written by great African writer Amadou Hampaté Ba, the story follows the true story of a minute conflict in Mali 80 years ago, that grew into a national crisis. The unique narrative style which Brook and Estienne have polished to gleaming, involves delicate shifts in characterisation. Seven men inhabit a number of characters including colonial administrators, Sufi master Tierno Bokar, wives, students, acolytes and bureaucrats. The movement of narrative achieved through simple symbolic gestures, a piece of cloth that serves as a canoe, for example, and the musical score provided by traditional music scholar Toshi Tsuchitori mark this performance as a masterful distillation of Peter Brook’s long career in the theatre. Sparse sets, an international cast and a renowned director nearing his 85th birthday with more than a little to say about the state of humanity: priceless.


Sydney Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company presents a Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord production
11 and 12
by Marie Hélène Estienne | adapted from the work of Amadou Hampaté Bâ

Directed by Peter Brook

Venue: Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Dates: Thursday 3 - Sunday 13 June, 2010
Tickets: $40 - $90
Bookings: (02) 9250 1999 | www.sydneytheatre.org.au