GECKO – THE WEDDING
Sadler’s Wells East
★★★
“An inspiring, well-loved piece of physical theatre”
After an exceptional run at the Barbican in 2022, Gecko’s The Wedding returns to London as part of MimeLondon, a festival that showcases new and exciting physical and visual theatre. Though a slightly re-imagined version, this production of The Wedding, created by Gecko’s artistic director Amit Lahav, stays true to its original exploration of the relationship humans develop with each other and with society itself.
In a dystopian-like reality, human beings come into the world through a slide. They are welcomed by an enthusiastic lady who hands them a beautiful wedding gown and gets them set up for their life as part of a peculiar society. All the members of this society work frantically, party hard and live a life of repetition and contracts, with nothing else on the horizon. Till group of outcasts, in an attempt to improve their lives, decide to slip in and along with a dismayed wedded individual, they bring change and, eventually, revolution.
There is an undeniably raw element in every expression, every move and every word of the ensemble’s performance. All of the performers, without exception, work hard to breathe life in an array of characters, from the obedient receiver of the newcomers to a homeless entertainer and a man who dares to go against the established rules and enquire about divorce. Their energy flows continuously, their precision is impressive and their collective chemistry mind-blowing.
One of Gecko’s characteristics is the use of various languages and the use of breath to add to the soundscape and to the emotional depth of the storytelling. It also works as a reminder that what we see onstage is a collective of humans that live, feel and breathe. However, in this version of the show, it feels like an incessant chattering; always in the background without any room for some quiet or some pause for variation. Instead of pacing out the speaking and breathing parts, there is a constant jabber on top of Dave Price’s beautiful music. But how are we to appreciate the music and the performers’ vulnerable speech when nothing ever stops?
Another distracting element is the inconsistency in the world building and movement development. Especially important in physical theatre is to establish certain patterns to help the audience understand what’s happening. Those patterns can be built, deconstructed and eventually thrown out the window, but they provide a stability and specificity without which the show ends up being vague and unreachable. Executive director Matthew Jones provides snapshots of events and characters that feel incomplete, random and disconnected, though they are powerful and at times land successfully, like when the whole ensemble comes together to celebrate in a wonderful set of circular shapes and motions full of fluidity, harmony and unison.
Regarding the lighting, designed by Joe Hornsby, it creates strictly bounded blocks that enhance the feeling of disconnection and isolation among the wedded individuals. Also, the use of lamps and fairy lights on the stage helps the audience visually navigate a stage that is not always easy to keep up with. The set and costume design, by Rhys Jarman, favours an earthy colour palette and bring us back to earlier times with braces, long skirts and big telephones. This could hint to a theme of breaking free from history and preventing it from repeating itself by disturbing an order placed upon us by a force we don’t even know.
An inspiring, well-loved piece of physical theatre, The Wedding urges us to examine the contracts of our lives and take matters into our own hands in order to determine our happiness.
GECKO – THE WEDDING
Sadler’s Wells East
Reviewed on 21st January 2026
by Stephanie Christodoulidou
Photography by Malachy Luckie
