The Great Yes, The Great No: A Review

By Darlene Donloe

South African Artist William Kentridge’s ‘The Great Yes, The Great No’ is one of the most completely breathtaking shows this reviewer has ever witnessed.

The show, which played briefly in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts earlier this month, was exceptional in all the right places.

Kentridge conceived and directed the show, which included Phala O. Phala and Nhlanhla Mahlangu.

The show was part of The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg, headed by Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace.

The Centre for the Less Good Idea is an interdisciplinary incubator space based in Maboneng, Johannesburg, committed to free-spirited experimentation and collaborative art. 

Kentridge said, “The Centre is a long-term test of a strategy for making art and making meaning. Is it a viable way of finding understanding, of constructing meaning, or simply a way of making art?” 

A chamber opera, The Great Yes, The Great No, tells of the 1941 historic escape from Vichy France on a cargo ship from Marseille to Martinique by, among others, surrealist André Breton, anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam, communist novelist Victor Serge, and author Anna Seghers. 

The opera features a diverse cast of characters, including the Captain, who serves as a guide throughout the performance.

The music is a rich tapestry of styles, with a quartet of musicians seamlessly transitioning between Schubert, Satie-esque melodies, and South African musical traditions.

Some of The Great Yes, The Great No cast

Yes/No is conceived with award-winning theater maker Phala Ookeditse Phala and choral composer Nhlanhla Mahlangu.

The show's look, staged on a ship, is visually stunning. The voices and music are angelic, and the story is engaging. The performances are superb. The chorus delivers complex harmonies and narratives with ease.

In Kentridge’s hands, the ship becomes a fantastical menagerie of thinkers, makers, and revolutionaries in a production that merges surrealist imagery with real-life events, lush South African choral music, dance, poetry, and anti-rational approaches to language and image.

This event takes a magical turn when Charon, the ferryman of the dead who has now been promoted captain, rearranges space-time and invites other celebrated figures to join this new kind of ark, an allegory of all past and present forced expeditions.

These characters include Aimé Césaire, Franz Fanon, and the Nardal sisters, the co-founders with Césaire of the anti-colonial Négritude movement in Paris, as well as the West Indian Marxist philosopher Franz Fanon, Josephine Bonaparte, Josephine Baker, Trotsky, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Stalin.

'The Great Yes, The Great No' tackles colonialism, exile, and searching for meaning in a chaotic world. The production's use of projections, video, and text adds to its visual and emotional impact.

Kentridge presents an emotionally electric experience, fusing history, theater, music, and the spoken word with his breathtaking surrealist visuals.

In summary, 'The Great Yes, The Great No' is a thought-provoking and visually stunning production showcasing Kentridge's innovative opera approach. Fans of experimental theater who are looking for a unique cultural experience are in for a treat!

Hopefully, this show will soon return to Los Angeles. When it does, run, don’t walk, to see it!

This unforgettable show is a gem!

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), ‘The Great Yes, The Great No’ gets an E (excellent).