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Review: Du Goudron et des Plumes at the Barbican

January 31, 2011 in dance, Review | No comments

As the lights come up on this production, I was reminded of the last time I was sitting in the Barbican Theatre to see the dreadful Nearly 90, which I couldn’t even bring myself to write about considering I only sat through half of it. Again, I had booked the tickets without really knowing what this production was, as it was all part of the brilliant freeB scheme that I shall sadly no longer be able to partake in come next month. The past year I have seen absolute genius and absolute trite wankery on the Barbican Theatre stage, and as I investigated the show two days before I was worried that it may be the latter once again.

Du Goudron et des Plumes is a circus piece by Mathurin Bolze for Compagnie MPTA, and is playing at the Barbican as part of the London International Mime Festival. It’s roughly inspired by the classic novel Of Mice and Men and primarily takes place on a floating platform by five very elastic performers.

Very quickly after the floating platform rises from the stage and the performers start throwing themselves around the set, comprised of wooden planks slotted in to said platform, it becomes clear that this is fast falling into the genius category. Constantly sitting somewhere between acrobatics and dance, with some of the most amazing choreography I’ve seen (and not even in a dance piece!), Du Goudron et des Plumes keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The immensely clever use of set pieces, video and lighting are inspired. What’s more, you are constantly trying to follow the meaning behind all the action, which while never makes itself overtly clear, still remains gripping instead of falling into the trite wankery that these kind of pieces often do.

In essence, this is an exciting piece of theatre. It has all the wow factor of something like Cirque du Soleil, but with none of the pretense and what I’m guessing is a fraction of the budget. It tramples all over contemporary dance works like Nearly 90 and Come Been and Gone, without actually being a contemporary dance piece. It’s achingly beautiful and expertly performed. If only it had a longer season…

Du Goudron et des Plumes closed at the Barbican on the 29th January 2010.

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Review: Come, been and gone – The Barbican

June 9, 2010 in dance, Review | 2 comments

Come, been and gone can officially be added to the list of things I don’t get. Michael Clark is seen as a visionary in the contemporary dance world, and this celebration of his work over the past 25 years has recieved rave reviews from some respectable critics. Some of the quotes have included “shockingly good,” “A thunderous electrifying evening of attention-seeking sound, stimulating visuals, and impressive fine-tuned focused dancers,” and “‘Come, been and gone’ blew our tiny minds“ . My take is that it’s a bloated, pretentious, wanky dance piece. I should also point out that I can only justify reviewing two thirds of the production as I left at the second interval.

Frankly, I was bored.

I think this comes down to the fact that modern dance and I seem to not get along. While some people see modern pieces of art, reflecting the harsh nature of existence in a postmodern, 21st century world, I see a lady in a mirror ball body stocking flailing around on stage. Sure, I can’t pigeonhole a very large, diverse area of dance, but it’s this arts for arts sake style of modern dance that I abhor. To me it lacks feeling and connection, and seems so hell bent on making a statement that they forget that they look like a pretentious bunch of twats leaping around the stage like idiots.

Sure, the dancers were clearly all at the top of their game. Hand selected as the best from Michael Clark’s company, they perform his work with the utmost precision. However, it’s not the dancers I had a problem with, it was the dance. Also, the sound designer deserved to be shot. In Swamp, the first section of the show, it sounded as if the composer/sound designer had just learnt how to use sequencing software and threw every effect at the track to make it sound like Aphex Twin, but failing. Terribly.The treatment given to The Velvet Underground was similarly shocking, with tracks pushed to the point of distortion with no other reason apart from the fact it’s ‘edgy’.

If you’re already a fan of Michael Clark’s work then you could possibly enjoy this. However, if you’re already a fan you’ve already seen it and stopped at the first paragraph. If you’re not then the show was beautifully summed up by my company for the night:

‘flicky leg, flicky leg. Chicken wing, chicken wing. Person dressed as a disco ball.’

Come, been and gone is playing at the Barbican until 12 June

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