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Previews & reviews {DANCE}
PREVIEW LAST ORDERS Dining at the dark side
Anthony Hopkins’ quivering lips, as he extols the fava beans, Chianti and human liver combo, is one of the most disturbing yet compelling images in Silence of the Lambs. For while serial killers might be scarily fascinating, they’re ten a penny compared to cannibals. ‘It’s the final taboo,’ says Al Seed, director/choreographer of Last Orders, a dark new show inspired by the 16th century Scottish cannibal, Sawney Bean. ‘Whatever vicious, horrible thing you do to somebody, there’s one final thing you can do – eat them.’
Last Orders reunites Seed with David Hughes Dance Company, the winning team behind 2008’s excellent The Red Room. The show promises to be an ambitious dance/theatre representation of Bean and his flesh- eating family, who spent decades living in caves and bringing passers-by home for dinner. Although what Bean and his family really got up to is a matter of historical debate.
‘There was certainly a figure called Alexander Bean,’
says Seed. ‘But the more you read about him, you begin to realise that if he actually did all the things attributed to him, he would have to be in a dozen places at once and live to 115. So many myths have grown up around him, it’s hard to separate the history from the legend – which was very attractive for us, because it gave us a lot of room to explore the mystery of the whole thing.’ With so many accounts of Bean’s feasts to choose
from, Seed and Hughes have opted for a more abstract approach. ‘Rather than going for a narrative angle, it’s more about using structures from visual art and music, like rhythm, tempo and shapes,’ says Seed. ‘We’re taking people on a hallucinatory theatrical journey.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Traverse Theatre, 228 1404, 17–28 Aug (not 22), times vary, £17–£19 (£12–£13). Preview 16 Aug, 10am, £12 (£6).
DANCE MARATHON Sweat-slicked endurance test ●●●●●
SILENT Witty and moving portrayal of life on the streets ●●●●● UNCHARTED WATERS Homage to life on the waves told through aerial circus skills ●●●●●
At three hours in, the fatigue has begun to show. As per the First Rule of Dance Marathon, we’re all still moving our feet constantly, but it’s descended to a listless, obedient shuffling. Sweating strangers, inhibitions completely lost, smile at each other with the battered camaraderie of the utterly knackered.
Based on the cruel endurance tests of Depression- era America, on one level Dance Marathon is a very interesting experiment in participatory theatre: the audience become the contestants. The rammed, chaotic dance floor is occasionally shot through with cohesion as the ‘embedded’ dancers (cast members who had arrived with us and donned the same numbered bibs) suddenly pull together like a flash mob, showing us fleeting moments of beauty amid the exhaustion.
However, ultimately, it’s a rather frustrating experience. ‘Characters’ are half-heartedly established from the embedded dancers, but it’s never clear why we’re supposed to care about them – the company seem almost frightened of examining the desperation that drove people to these lengths in the first place. (Kirstin Innes) ■ Traverse Theatre, 228 1404, until 14 Aug, 7.15pm, £19 (£13).
Shuffling across the stage under a blanket, Pat Kinevane slowly makes his way towards the audience. Peering out from underneath the dirty and torn material, glittery eye shadow adorning each lid, he starts to speak. What are we expecting him to say? A monologue about homelessness will surely begin with something dark and depressing about life on the streets.
Instead, Kinevane delivers an opening gambit so laugh out loud funny it instantly catapults us into his world. Using the slow-release method, he gradually tells us how he ended up with a blanket for a home, relying on the kindness of strangers to feed his Merlot habit. Along the way we encounter parental abuse, suicide, failed marriage and silent movies.
If this sounds like a recipe for a morose night at the theatre, don’t be deceived. Truly comic descriptions punctuate even the darkest incidents. Part of the Dublin-based Fishamble company, Kinevane is a formidable talent, both writing and performing this remarkable work. A Fringe must-see if ever there was one. (Kelly Apter) ■ Dance Base, 225 5525, until 20 Aug, times vary, £7.
F E S T I V A L
The wayward charm of running away to sea is beautifully captured by aerial dance and roguish shanties in this three-part collaboration between innovative companies Strange Bird Zirkus and All or Nothing. Lucy Deacon and Jennifer Paterson lure us in with
their parallels between sailors and circus acrobats, hoisting the rigging, shimmying up the Chinese pole and lolling at the top as if it’s a crow’s nest, wrapping themselves up in sails and soaring weightlessly like seagulls circling. There’s a free energy to this first part, full of playful camaraderie, but before long sickness creeps in and brutal storms are whipped up. Part two is a darker, more tender tale, where Moritz Linkmann’s lonesome sailor enters a port bordello to play upon his fantasies. His painful, passionate tango on the Chinese pole is an absolute show-stealer, but what makes this whole piece so special is the perfect marriage of circus skills with story.
If anything could make you dream of stowing away, it’s definitely this. (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Dance Base, 225 5525, until 20 Aug (not 8–12, 15–17), 9pm, £10 (£8).
11–18 Aug 2011 THE LIST 61