“It felt as though we were watching an exploration of trust, love, dependency and a sweet tenderness”
BalletBoyz creators Billy Trevitt and Michael Nunn paired four leading choreographers with four composers and tasked them to create a dance piece for the BalletBoyz dancers in just fourteen days. They gave them a theme – balance. It is an ambitious idea but the result is uneven.
The first piece was ‘The Title is in the Text,’ choreographed by Javier De Frutos and with music by Scott Walker. Some may remember Scott from the 1960s duo The Walker Brothers, and wonder what he is doing writing music for a contemporary dance piece. He is now a respected composer of avant-garde compositions, and had a Prom dedicated to his music this year. His current musical style is miles away from ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,’ and this piece tends more towards the unsettlingly apocalyptic than the sweet. With jarring shrieks and repeated spoken word iterations it works well with De Frutos’ choreography. The dancers work on and around a giant see-saw, taking the theme of balance very literally. The see-saw tips and changes as they shift the balance, sustaining the angle with arabesques, sliding down the board, falling from the highest point into the arms of other dancers. The level of trust between the dancers and their collective strength and lightness turn what could be just a quirky idea into something which is sometimes unsettling, sometimes powerful and occasionally amusing. It is an intriguing piece and it definitely holds the attention.
Next came ‘Human Animal’ which, despite it’s title, had a distinctly equine air. The dancers spent quite a while moving in a circle, pawing the ground like a group of slightly skittish horses. I expected more of choreographer Ivan Perez; his work is often powerful, emotional and intense, but here he seems to have tried a light touch and it doesn’t have much impact. The piece was created in an unusual way, having been choreographed in silence by Perez. The sound of the dancers’ feet was recorded and sent to Joby Talbot, who then composed the music. The second half of the piece has more power, building from the presence of a solo dancer, but overall it isn’t a great success.
If Human Animal lacks humanity the next work, ‘Us’, has it in spades. This is the strongest of the four new pieces, a beautiful exploration of a relationship between two men. It is strong, tender and moving. The dancers are in physical contact almost the whole time and when they do move apart it feels like a disaster. The intimacy is highlighted by intricate shared hand gestures that are almost ritualistic. It felt as though we were watching an exploration of trust, love, dependency and a sweet tenderness. Choreographed by Christopher Whealdon, who is probably best known for the award winning An American in Paris, with music by Keaton Henson, this is the stand out work of the four.
The last piece in the first half was ‘The Indicator Line,’ choreographed by ‘Strictly’ judge Craig Revel Horwood. It is full of energy and has some refreshingly powerful moments but it is stylistically confused and tries too hard to tell a story. Charlotte Harding’s music provides a percussive and vivid environment for the dancers, but are they clog dancing, tapping, Irish dancing or, as an audience member said in the break, is it ‘a little bit West Side Story?’ Horwood based the work on his family history, discovered during filming ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ for the BBC. He found out that one of his ancestors was a champion clog dancer. The dancers seem to be workers, and at one point an overseer or military man appears on stage in a red coat like a pantomime villain or the traditional baddie in a classical ballet. Despite the unevenness of the piece the dancers tackle it with relish and the strength and power of some of the movements are a delight.
After the interval we were treated to a revival of the award winning ‘Fallen,’ a work that was first performed by the BalletBoyz in 2013. Choreographed by Russell Malifant with music by Armand Amar and highly effective lighting design by Michael Hulls, this is a fluid and athletic piece that perfectly showcases the BalletBoyz ensemble. At first the dancers circle and turn, weaving with sinuous grace. Then the piece develops into an abstract of lifts, throws, falls, rolls and balances that have a sublime grace and strength.
Despite the difference in the quality of the pieces this was a very worthwhile evening at Saddler’s Wells. The BalletBoyz pulled it off.
Joe Pasquale will star as the loveable but accident-prone Frank Spencer in the first ever stage production of the classic 1970s TV comedy, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. Sarah Earnshaw will play his long-suffering wife Betty and Susie Blake his disapproving mother-in-law, Mrs Fisher. The stage adaptation has been written by Guy Unsworth, based on the original TV series by Raymond Allen. Guy Unsworth will also be directing, with design by Simon Higlett.
The UK Tour of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em will open at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon on Wednesday 21 February 2018.
Comedian Joe Pasquale has delighted audiences with his live stand-up tours for over 20 years and made his theatrical debut in 1999 in Larry Shue’s The Nerd, followed by the touring productions of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Mel Brooks’s The Producers, The Wizard of Oz and, more recently, the West End and touring productions of Spamalot, as King Arthur. In addition, Joe was crowned ‘King of the Jungle’ in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2004, and hosted the long-running television series The Price is Right for ITV.
Sarah Earnshaw will be starring as Jennifer Lore in the UK Tour of Nativity – The Musical this autumn, and other theatre credits include Travels With My Aunt (Chichester Festival), The Lady of the Lake in Spamalot (West End and UK Tour) and the original London cast of Wicked.
Susie Blake regularly appeared in the TV series and comedy specials of Victoria Wood, Russ Abbot and Stanley Baxter, and is perhaps particularly loved as the Continuity Announcer in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV. More recently, she played regular Bev Unwin in Coronation Street from 2003 – 2006 and then made a comeback in 2015, and regular Hillary Nicholson in Mrs Brown’s Boys. Her films include Fierce Creatures and Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?!. Her theatre credits include Grumpy Old Women Live 2 & 3, When We Are Married (West End), Pygmalion (Chichester Festival Theatre), Madame Morrible in Wicked (West End) and Belinda Blair in Noises Off (National Theatre).
The UK Tour will be produced by Limelight Productions.
