THE DANCE PLAGUE OF 1518
Upstairs at the Gatehouse
★★★
“the sheer sense of fun ultimately wins us over”
There are little pockets of history that often go unnoticed until brought to the attention of an enterprising and energised theatre company. I, for one, was unaware of the true historical epidemic known as the ‘Dance Plague’ that struck Strasbourg in 1518. Judging by this current stage adaptation, the four actors (Caoimhe de Brun, Harrison MacDonald-Taylor, Sam Trotman and Finn Tickel) re-enacting the events are just as much in the dark. Armed with a basic scrapbook of archival material, they take creative licence to the extreme and “fill in the gaps”, as they repeatedly tell us – even in song.
The ‘Dance Plague’ was a bizarre outbreak of frenzied, uncontrollable dancing. The phenomenon began with a single woman – Frau Troffea (Caoimhe de Brun) – dancing silently in the scorching summer heat for nearly a week. Others joined in and at its peak over four hundred people were afflicted, many of whom danced until exhaustion, heart attacks or strokes claimed their lives. Speculation as to the cause was rife. Theories included crops poisoned by a hallucinogenic fungi, spider bites, stress related mass hysteria, overheated blood or divine punishment for their sins. Suggested cures were equally outlandish, but eventually the ‘choreomania’ subsided by itself after a couple of months.
The four cast members play an impressive number of characters, from a king to a street beggar with everything in between. It takes a while to reach the heart of the story; the narrative waylaid by the brazen artistic liberty the writers, Tickel and Trotman, have taken. The premise is that four musical theatre actors are holed up in a rehearsal room equipped with the title of the show, but little else. They are busking it. This quasi-improvised approach blends well with the self-mocking delivery that is often funny and always chaotic. Shades of Monty Python appear unexpectedly, adding to the silliness of the proceedings. The pizzazz of the performers has to be applauded, each a fireball of energy unfazed by the frequent prop and set mishaps and Harry Heslop’s erratic and often misbehaving lighting.
It is a tough act to pull off entirely successfully. It is without doubt an adult show, masquerading as a ‘Theatre in Education’ touring act. Littered with profanities, bawdy humour and morally controversial innuendos, the whole evening is presented in a consistently exaggerated style as though we are primary school kids with a microscopic attention span. With references to ‘Six’ and to ‘Hamilton’ we are told, at one point, that “history lessons can be fun”. Much of the exposition could, and should, be curtailed; while the repeated conceit that these characters are ad-libbing way out of their depth promptly loses its punch.
Tickel and Trotman’s songs are a mix of the inventive and the generic. With a three-piece band of keys, drums and guitar, the arrangements lack the drive of the cast, invariably leaving the actors to motor on with the musicians meekly following behind, the instruments lying too low in the mix with little variety or texture. A couple of numbers stand out. ‘Bottom of the List’ is a fun and clever number, and ‘The Priest Song’ allows Trotman to channel Tim Curry’s Rocky Horror campness – albeit in a cassock instead of a corset. ‘Dance Fever’, the closing number for Act One, is a medley of references that defies logic and formula but is a fitting showstopper.
The company are clearly enjoying themselves, and the sweat pouring off them by curtain call matches the sweat they have clearly put into the production. Yet despite the maelstrom of activity, there are moments when the piece lags. But when the momentum picks up, and new characters emerge again (how many can you fit into a two-hour show?) we are joyfully back on board. Fast paced and physical it sometimes trips over itself but, unlike Noga Gilboa’s cardboard set, manages to stay standing to the end. It just needs a touch more solidity to reign in the wafty tangents that waylay the flow of the story. Nevertheless, the sheer sense of fun ultimately wins us over.
THE DANCE PLAGUE OF 1518
Upstairs at the Gatehouse as part of Camden Fringe
Reviewed on 11th August 2026
by Jonathan Evans
