A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND
Sadler’s Wells East
★★★★
“a masterful production which will keep you engaged”
The black curtain rises on a wide semi-lit stage nearly empty except for a large board-room table set diagonally upstage of the huge performance space of Sadlers Wells East. After a while, a formally suited man enters, pours himself a glass of some amber fluid and settles into a swivel chair. Slowly two more figures appear as the light increases. It is hard to make them out in their manifestation as semi-dressed bodies strewn downstage, apparently unable to walk or sit but blindly, painfully, struggling across the floor to enrobe themselves in jacket and trousers.
There are plenty of metaphors to enjoy in BULLYACHE’s latest full-length production, ‘A Good man is Hard to Find’. It is not hard to decode the motifs during this single act: power play, ritual degradation and moral sacrifice are all present. And it is thrilling to watch the extreme and often completely beautiful physicality of this creation by Jacob Samuel and Courtney Deyn as they interpret themes drawn from the financial crash of 2008 mixed with the extraordinary ‘Cremation of Care’ annual ritual ceremony, designed by the global elite to banish guilt.
Often hard to watch, but always recognisable, the troupe enacts the unavoidable progress of the corporate system: the absorption of the individual into the corporate body, the raising up of one to a god-like status (through an event twisted out of the annual sales achievement awards whose compere is the office cleaner) and, finally, his destruction through ceremonial sacrifice – in this case, bloody and real.
The six male performer dancers (including Courtney Deyn) are enthralling in their fluid movement between bullied and bully, individual abuse and team play. An office cleaner weaves in and out of the action, bringing consequences into the light, as he mops up spills and cleans the floor. The themes are underlined with an inspired mix of tone and music, drawing on Shostakovich and on original writing by BULLYACHE, with lighting effects (Bianca Peruzzi) and through costume (La Maskarade). Nothing is out of place or wasted. This is a masterful production which will keep you engaged from its subtle, slow opening to its shocking end.
Exploring aspects of masculinity through theatre seems to be having quite a moment just now, which I am very glad about. In the last three weeks I have seen three very different but equally thought provoking performances on the topics of male power, emotion and vulnerability. This offering is by far the most sensitive, even as it shocks, in part owing to the nature of dance as a medium. Representations of male-ness can easily become stereotyped or cliched. In this original and fascinating work, we see the beauty and the beast rendered in movement and form, and come away understanding something not well expressed before.
A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND
Sadler’s Wells East
Reviewed on 7th May 2026
by Louise Sibley
Photography by Andrea Avezzù
