He understands that the power of Mitchell's narrative arose because she set the romance against momentous events.
The Labour campaign of that year in many ways resembled a sailing ship competing against an ironclad, a cavalry charge against cannon, romance against reality.
Accompanied by a score that flatly juxtaposes Nat King Cole romance against electronica, a ten-member company peppers sweeping, body-flinging modern dance with hip-hop posturing (Aug. 6-10).
While gurgling flibbertigibbet Chantelle aims her chest at expressionless alpha-bore Oliver Valentine ("It's Valentine's Day and your name is Oliver Valentine. Random"), Chrissie and Sacha cement their pointless romance against a backdrop of perforated bowels and subepicardial dialogue.
I loved the energy generated by the comic mismatch of the classical heroic story and the industrial nineteen-twenties in northeast England — and yet not so comic either, because there was real heroism and testing in my story, and also improbable romance, against the odds.
Santer deemed it the "soap wedding of the year and perhaps the soap wedding of the decade", commenting that playing the romance against the "thriller" of the "whodunnit" storyline provided a balance he hoped audiences would be "gripped by and satisfied with".
