One4review – “Every member of the audience is an essential part of the performance” ✮✮✮✮✮

Ubuntu is an African word meaning harmony. During Drum  Struck’s performance, there were waves of ubuntu and energy flowing from the performers to the audience and from the audience back to the performers. Every member of the audience is an essential part of the performance for we each have a drum to beat out the driving rhythms as directed by the Drum Queen and aided by the Drum Maker. There is a narrative structure provided by the Drum Maker.

With light touches of humour, he explains that in the beginning there was ubuntu in the villages with drumming providing a basic form of communication and enjoyment. Then the gold mines were developed with the resultant loss of Ubuntu through discord and violence. Nevertheless, with goodwill and the power of the drumbeat, ubuntu can be restored.

This is a show which is spectacular in so many ways, the drumming of course, the dancing, the singing and the colourful costumes. The finale puts all these elements together and the experience is so exhilarating, even cathartic, when hundreds of individuals of all ages are as one. No doubt, this is going to be one of the hits of this year’s Fringe. Reviewed by Ben Assembly Hall, Mound Place; 35 1 to 26 August 2013 (not 12) 18.00 – 19.00