✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

South Pacific, Sadler’s Wells review ★★★★★

27 Jul 22 – 28 Aug 22, Performances at 19:30pm with additional 2:30pm matinees

Director Daniel Evans proves there’s still a place on the stage for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s controversial musical South Pacific

By Holly O'Mahony on 5/8/2022

1 CW reader is interested
Joanna Ampil (Bloody Mary), Sera Maehara (Liat) & Rob Houchen (Joe Cable) in CFT’s South Pacific. Photo: Johan Persson
Joanna Ampil (Bloody Mary), Sera Maehara (Liat) & Rob Houchen (Joe Cable) in CFT’s South Pacific. Photo: Johan Persson
South Pacific, Sadler’s Wells review 4 South Pacific, Sadler’s Wells review Holly CW
South Pacific is one of the more controversial titles in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical canon, which began on an American cowboy ranch with Oklahoma! and ended in the Austrian mountains with The Sound of Music. The 1949 hit is set on a South Pacific island during World War II, from where the duo felt able to address the racism they saw as prevalent among their fellow Americans back home. But this worthy, before-its-time ambition can get overshadowed by the play’s more problematic content, including racial stereotypes, moments of cultural appropriation and celebratory depictions of white saviours – all of which fall short of today’s PC standards. As a result, South Pacific is rarely staged these days, with directors and producers fearing a backlash should the production miss the mark.


Fortunately, the duo’s anti-racist message is brought to the fore in director Daniel Evans’ production, which ran at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2021 before transferring to Sadler’s Wells this summer. It’s not radical by any means, instead, it makes its points subtly, while showing how these prejudices – be they race-, gender-, age- or class-related – are still with us.



Gina Beck (Nellie) & Julian Ovenden (Emile) in Chichester Festival Theatre’s South Pacific. Photo: Johan Persson

Inspired by James A Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Tales of the South Pacific, the plot centres on the relationship between an American nurse, Nellie, and a middle-aged French plantation owner, Emile de Becque. The two fall in love with the speed that gives musicals a bad rap, and long before Emile tells Nellie about his two young children. When he does, she struggles to accept their mixed-race ethnicity. Also on the island and equally conflicted is US Marine lieutenant Joseph Cable, who has fallen in love with a young Tonkinese woman Liat, but fears the social consequences of marrying his Asian sweetheart.


Love isn’t the only trouble on these colonised shores either, there’s the deadly threat of Japan’s invasion keeping the US navy officers busy.


In Evans’ production, the story plays out on a relatively sparse stage designed by Peter McKintosh (the Olivier-winning Crazy for You), with Howard Harrison’s warm lighting flooding the stage from high windows either side, creating our sun-soaked beach. Against a corrugated iron backdrop, on which alternating visions of inky skies and silhouetted palm trees are painted, intricately designed set pieces including a functioning shower room and a flower-dotted veranda are wheeled on and off, lending the production a dose of naturalism.



Gina Beck 'Ensign Nellie Forbush' and Company. Photo: Johan Persson

It’s the leads that lend this production its gravitas. Seasoned musical star Gina Beck (Matilda, Wicked, Les Misérables) as all-American Nellie wraps us around her little finger as she does Navy Seabee Luther Billis (a hard-working and hugely entertaining Douggie McMeekin), before leaving us conflicted by her prejudices. Without compromising on the song's merriment, she injects just the necessary amount of irony into overly camp number I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy to ensure the audience chuckles with her, not at her, as she croons of being ‘as corny as Kansas in August’. Period drama favourite Julian Ovenden (Bridgerton, The Crown, Downton Abbey) as Emile reminds us he’s not only a terrific actor but an operatic soloist, moving the audience to whoop at his rendition of late number This Nearly Was Mine.


Further musical highlights here include a foot-stomping, testosterone-fuelled take on There’s Nothin’ Like a Dame, and a joyful sassy I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair, with liberated, playful towel swinging thrown in for good measure.



Joanna Ampil 'Bloody Mary' and Rob Houchen 'Lieutenant Robert Cable'. Photo: Johan Persson

Evans’ production doesn’t shy away from the racial prejudices that stalk the play’s lovers, but it cleverly swerves moments of cultural appropriation that risk making South Pacific unpalatable today, in particular the sneering at local islander Bloody Mary (a fierce and headstrong Joanna Ampil). It highlights the fact the conversation around racism has moved on over the last 70 years, while reminding us these prejudices are still within society. Emile and Cable’s You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught is certainly still pertinent at a time when the UK can welcome white refugees from Ukraine but look to deport those from the Middle East, and footballers are still taking the knee before matches to remind crowds that racist abuse will not be tolerated.


Nothing about this South Pacific is overdone though; from its set to its performances and underlying anti-racist message, it's subtle and fine-tuned, and all the better for it.

Click here to book




What South Pacific, Sadler’s Wells review
Where Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN | MAP
Nearest tube Angel (underground)
When 27 Jul 22 – 28 Aug 22, Performances at 19:30pm with additional 2:30pm matinees
Price £15+
Website Click here for more information and to book



Most popular

Best London Exhibition to see now
Top exhibitions on now in London
Things to do in London this weekend: 9–11 June
Things to do in London this weekend: 9–11 June
Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher in My Brilliant Friend season 4, HBO/Sky Atlantic (Photo: HBO)
My Brilliant Friend, season 4, Sky Atlantic: first-look photo, release date, plot, cast

Editor's Picks

The company of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! at the Young Vic © Co-set Designer Laura Jellinek & Grace Laubacher, Costume Designer Terese Wadden, Lighting Designer Scott Zielinski, Projection Designer Joshua Thorson. Photography by Marc Brenner 
Oklahoma!, Wyndham's Theatre
Looking back: London's best theatre shows, 2022
Looking back: London's best theatre shows, 2022
Ruth Wilson in The Human Voice. Photo: Jan Versweyveld
The Human Voice, Harold Pinter Theatre review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Sushi Tetsu

    Feast on top-notch sushi, sashimi and udon at the sophisticated Sushi Tetsu. This tiny shrine to the best of Japanese food has only half a dozen seats at the counter, so advanced booking is definitely necessary.

    Read more...
    Book Map
1

Musical

theatre

revival

You might like

  • Carousel, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Photo: Carly Bawden and Declan Bennett. Credit: Johan Persson

    Carousel, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review ★★★★★

  • The company of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! at the Young Vic © Co-set Designer Laura Jellinek & Grace Laubacher, Costume Designer Terese Wadden, Lighting Designer Scott Zielinski, Projection Designer Joshua Thorson. Photography by Marc Brenner 

    Oklahoma!, Wyndham's Theatre

  • Ruth Wilson in The Human Voice. Photo: Jan Versweyveld

    The Human Voice, Harold Pinter Theatre review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×