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"[Mandela] went into prison and he learnt how his enemy worked ... He understood them, and he understood where they were coming from..."
"We tend to like characters that have a lot of abuse heaped on them."
"I’ve always liked British history and old sites ... It’s something I’ve kind of grown up with."
“I think it’s incredibly important to be challenging and inspiring young people through dance. It is an empowering tool ... [And] it would be a shame if kids grew up without being able to look at the world in a creative, playful way.”
“I used my memory as a first draft for the book."
"There is a whole meta-level of... I don’t want to say God [because] I’m not a religious person myself, but there is a feeling of ‘Is anyone even watching over us at all?’"
"If you’re going to restage an old work, the question is, how much are you having a conversation about your own society’s politics?"
Despite being an Ancient Greek tragedy told by 17th-century French playwright Jean Racine, it feels distinctly modern.
"The social potential of the piece is amazing. It has the possibility to be an ‘agora’, a place in the atrium which is a meeting point; a place where you can be by yourself, or where you can meet people, watch the pool and listen."
The only omission is a lack of references to the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Still, it offers a very different, and infinitely richer, picture of the region than what you will find in the news.