Dance: The dark side of masculinity

Bullyache
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
direction & choreography Courtney Deyn & Jacob Samuel
performers Courtney Deyn, Sam Dilkes, Oscar Jinghu Li, Giacomo Luci, Pierre Morrillon, Frank Yang
musicians Asher Allen, Jacob Samuel
music Bullyache, Franz Schubert, Dmitri Shostakovich
art direction Sinisia • costumes La Maskarade
lighting Bianca Peruzzi
Sadler's Wells East, Stratford • 7-9.May.26 ★★★

With its inventive choreography and challenging storytelling, Bullyache takes a bold look at a grim aspect of masculinity, namely the point where ambition and camaraderie result in humiliation and cruelty. Inspired by business culture in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, this intensely powerful show is an often frightening display of aggression, mockery and destruction. So even if the storytelling feels somewhat indulgent, including sequences that are unnecessarily silent or flashy, it leaves us with a lot to think about.

It opens almost painfully slowly, as we eventually spot a naked man worming himself across the floor, collecting items of clothing until he's wearing a suit, like another man who has been taunting him. Others arrive, performing choreography that feels both yearning and menacing with eerily pliable motion and spinning, vibrant lifts. The men on stage clearly have an uneasy relationship with their clothing and with each other, intriguingly working both together and at odds. This requires considerable physical control from the dancers, with moments of breathtaking balance and breakout sections as their unison is shattered by skilful improvisation.

Complete silence becomes an engulfing soundscape that steadily grows louder, shaking the theatre with deep rhythms while also stirring in snippets of songs. But the most memorable sound is of feet and bodies thumping against either the floor or the enormous central conference table. There's also a cleaner who mops up various fluids (including a bodily one) before taking to the microphone to sing a few numbers. Of course, he is also bullied into wearing a sexier outfit, returning later with a tiara and glittery makeup. And the loose narrative resolves into a grisly camera-ready tragedy.

The athletic choreography is fascinating, as these men strut and torment each other, revealing vulnerabilities in moments of weakness. Religious imagery emerges in their poses, as do blurry layers of machismo and confused sexuality. Demanding athletic movement includes jumps and falls, floating moments and jaggedly shifting pace, all of which combine with changes in light and sound to create a dreamlike haze. This climaxes in a messy and jostling competition to name the one good man in the bunch, then continues to evolve after the winner is crowned.

Rather grim and overly pointed, the story dissects how young men play games with each other, empowered by financial success but stunted by immaturity. Yes, this is an urgent topic, but some eye-catching ideas lack nuance (an on-stage fire?), and momentum flags in extended stretches of dead time. Still, the mix of brutality and tenderness is dazzling, creating an unusually immersive ambience that's surreal and emotionally intriguing. It certainly highlights a big issue. Whether it provokes thought about it is another question.

For information, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Andrea Avezzù • 7.May.26