english 'comment' piece about stewart & ben hur

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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 84004.html



Janet Street-Porter writing in the Independent 13th May 09

"Oh, Stewart, you must be completely off your chariot

Sting might be travelling the world raising millions to save the rainforest and the Amazonian Indians, but his former band-mate in The Police, Stewart Copeland, has an equally formidable project under way.

The drummer has composed the music for an epic staging of Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur, which will be unveiled at the O2 Arena in London, in September and will then go on to visit seven countries.

It sounds a bit like the dramatic equivalent of Eurovision. There's a cast of 400 humans and 100 horses, and the production also includes a role of compere (the director calls this a narrator), using the language of the host country to move things along. The actors will be totally incomprehensible to most of the audience because they will be speaking in Latin and Aramaic (though Boris Johnson might understand some of it)

Perhaps Sir Terry Wogan, now that he has retired from his official Eurovision duties, could be drafted in to add witty asides during the action? We are promised a chariot race and two orgies. Any chance of audience participation, please?"