The Making of Ali & Nino was performed by Youth Music Theatre UK at Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell.
Youth Music Theatre UK’s commitment to the presentation of new shows continues in its tenth anniversary year with The Making of Ali & Nino, an ambitious international collaboration between theatres in the UK, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Its world premiere performance is one of the highlights of a varied summer season of YMT productions across the nation, the result of a programme of intensive rehearsals undertaken by successful auditionees in residential courses.
Based on the celebrated novel published in 1937 under the pseudonym Kurban Said, The Making of Ali & Nino is set against the backdrop of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Azerbaijani struggle for independence. The familiar plot of the cross-cultural romance between Ali Khan, a Muslim raised in Azerbaijan, and Nino, a Georgian Orthodox Christian, is intertwined with an imaginative dialogue between their fictional daughter Tamar and Lev Nussimbaum, the real-life author believed to have been the originator of the novel.
The story’s boundary-crossing theme is aptly mirrored in the diversity of composer Tarek Merchant’s score, which draws significantly on influences from traditional Persian mugham music and Georgian vocal polyphony in order to define the different sound-worlds of the characters, as well as incorporating some more familiar Western idioms. The complexity of the resulting score is commendably navigated by the young cast members who rise to the challenge well, even though musically it doubtless runs contrary to much of their prior training.
Indeed, the cast of more than 30 artists aged 11-21 is clearly overflowing with talent. Kate Lansdale’s performance as Nino, although the character is comparatively late to feature within the 75-minute-long show, stands out in particular, as does that of the female vocal trio which accompanies her during ‘Georgian Women’, one of the most successful numbers. Guy Conroy-Smith’s commanding interpretation of the central character of Ali complements Lansdale’s Nino well, while Jason Battersby and Kiera Battersby provide effective and well-realised narration as Lev Nussimbaum and Tamar, respectively.
Under the direction of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Joe Douglas, every performer is given their turn in the proverbial spotlight at some point in the show, much of the action being conducted within and around the carefully-defined frame of a large square sandbox placed centrestage. As musical director, Tarek Merchant ably juggles violin, keyboard and accordion while simultaneously leading a six-strong ensemble supplemented by some adept onstage musicians drawn from the young cast.
What strikes the audience most about this production, however, is the maturity demonstrated by the YMT performers in embracing such profound tensions as East versus West and Muslim versus Christian. In bringing to life a show that encompasses the fall of the Russian Empire, the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany, and, in its rather poignant conclusion, the demise of the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the cast unquestionably embodies an understanding beyond their modest years.
Christopher Wiley
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