Ben Hur Live

Narration is provided by Stewart Copeland, founder and drummer of The Police and composer of the show’s reasonably effective music. The actors are essentially reduced to miming actions to Copeland’s commentary (his voice amplified to an almost intolerable level), simply uttering a few lines of Latin or Aramaic in each scene. It soon becomes wearing to learn of the developing relationship between Judah Ben Hur (Sebastian Thrun) and his childhood friend Messala (Michael Knese) through being told that Messala is now more arrogant than when they last met or that Messala now feels more Roman than Jewish, rather than experiencing any real interaction for ourselves. True, subtle gestures would have no impact in this massive venue, but it seems a poor excuse for not so much weak, as non-existent, characterisation.

Visually the show fares far better. With designs by Mark Fisher (Chief Designer for the main ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics) and Ray Winkler, there are some wonderful props such as a wooden walled city and slender metal Corinthian columns. The real coup of the first half, however, is the galley battle, which features two beautifully crafted wooden boats where the slaves look entirely in place pushing them along on wheels rather than pulling at oars.

Here, however, the arena’s size is a hindrance in that once the pirates have attacked on quad bikes, the ensuing battle appears stagnant because the action is confined to a single galley a fraction of the stage’s size. More generally, although the arena is frequently filled with scores of soldiers, market traders, gladiators and slaves, the standard of dancing and fighting is not always that high. There are exceptions, however, and the acrobats demonstrate some incredible feats of balance and strength as they stand several high on top of each other.

Fortunately, the show’s one unqualified success is the chariot race. The same speed and tactics witnessed in the film could never hope to be reproduced live in an arena, but the horses, trained by Nicki Pfeifer, are skilfully handled to give the impression of running at high speed in the enclosed area, whilst also enabling the necessary overtaking to take place. Understandably, we don’t see Messala splicing the other chariots to pieces with his rotating blades, but wheels fly off and chariots break nonetheless and in one dramatic stunt Messala is dragged across the ground for nearly a circuit.

With this scene followed by the emotive crucifixion of Jesus and the release of real white doves into the arena, Ben Hur Live ultimately makes the grade on the visual front, but dramatically it is rather a nonentity. After this week the show is set to tour Europe, but in the long-term, since fifteen years have already been invested in the project, it might be worth it taking the time to overhaul its narrative aspect.

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