notable among the ballets that poole mounted for capab ballet are three works on south african themes: "le cirque" (1972), "the rain queen" (1973), and "kami" (1976). both "le cirque", set to music by bach, and "kami", based on a play by c. louis leipoldt, "die laaste aand" ("the last evening"), and set to music by bizet and michael tuffin, deal with the government policy of "apartheid" (literally, "apart-hood"), the major social issue in twentieth-century south africa. "le cirque" was a dramatic attack on government repression; "kami" (sanskrit, "of fulfilled desires") was a grim tale of interracial marriage and the mysterious death of a government official. "the rain queen", a work conceived by choreographer frank staff, was set to a commissioned score by graham newcater and had décor and costumes by raimond schoop. telling the legend of modjadji, the hereditary queen of the lobedu people who was thought to have the power to bring rain to a drought-stricken land, it was planned as the first full-length ballet with a scenario derived from an indigenous south african legend. poole dedicated the ballet to the memory of staff, a revered and renowned south african artist.