Stage: Myth, memory and other bad ideas

–320°F
Minus Three Twenty Fahrenheit
written & directed by Hideki Noda
with Sadawo Abe, Suzu Hirose, Eri Fukatsu, Koji Ohkura, Shoko Takada, Yuri Kawakami, Satoshi Hashimoto, Hideki Noda, Isao Hashizume
choreography Shigehiro Ide
sets Yukio Horio • costumes Kodue Hibino
music Marihiko Hara • sound Raku Nakahara
lighting Motoi Hattori, Makoto Kitazawa
Sadler's Wells, London • 2-11.Jul.26 ★★★★

Following a run at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Japanese theatre company Noda Map brings a cast of 25 fully committed performers to London to stage this outrageously energetic epic play. Mixing various styles of theatre, this is a sparky mix of comedy, physical theatre, existential debate and absurd nuttiness. At 2 hours 20 minutes with subtitles and without an interval, it's not for the faint-hearted, but the bonkers storytelling and big ideas catch the imagination.

It's difficult, and perhaps pointless, to describe the Faustian narrative. But a brightly comical tone runs through the show, with constant sight gags, witty wordplay and cheeky characters who refuse to behave themselves. It opens with God (Isao Hashizume) making a wager with the Angel of Light (Suzu Hirose) about human desire. Then we're in the present day, as Professor Kyuri (Eri Fukatsu) is excavating for angel bones, the key to health, desire and longevity. She discovers that Help (Sadawo Abe) vibrates on the angelic frequency, so sends him into his genetic memories to both medieval and ancient times, seeking answers. And he's easily bribed with bananas.

All of this is set in a Tower of Babel that shifts through the eras, ruled by priests, monarchs or chief executives. There's a lot going on visually, with constant action as scenes shift using inventive trickery with light, sheets, screens, trap doors, steam vents and colourful costumes. It's dazzling to watch, thankfully directed with enough clarity to reveal exactly where to look. Each performer invests enormous personality and attitude into multiple roles, bringing them to life in ways that are continually surprising.

Along the way, the script tackles enormous questions, such as why humans are always running (to get away from metaphorical dinosaurs, of course). There's a Pied Piper who leads liberated lab mice or angels who have been frozen to –320°F to preserve them. But not all mice (or angels) follow the crowd. Conversations explore how our bones hold the memories of everything that has gone before, while fossilised bones communicate with the future. The show is a blinding mix of playful dialog, eye-catching choreography and heart-stopping insight. "When I had youth, I had nothing and I lacked nothing." "Beauty isn't an achievement."

Writer-director Hideki Noda, who performs as Kyuri's lively Assistant Stalwart, says that this play is designed to be something different for everyone who watches it, depending on how willing they are to connect with its more personal layers. Intriguingly, he acknowledges some will dismiss the show due to its excessive goofiness. But he clearly has these people in mind when he makes us laugh at something absurd or stops us with a profound observation. And in the end, this is a strikingly beautiful depiction of the folly of seeking eternal youth or trying to understand the meaning of humanity. Or of love itself.

For details, SADLER'S WELLS > • NODA MAP >

photos by Takashi Okamoto • 2.Jul.26

Dance: Island dreams

Acosta Danza Yunior
Next Generation
artistic director Carlos Acosta
dancers Carolina Monteagudo, Heidy Núñez, Maria del Carmen Pantoja, Paul Brando, Alexander Arias, Alejandro Figueredo, Ernesto Muñoz, Noel Sánchez, Anthony Quevedo, Edgar Quintero
teacher Maylin Castillo • company manager Rayselis Rodriguez
technical director Pedro Benitez • sound Jose Acedo
Sadler's Wells East, Stratford • 17-20.Jun.26 ★★★★

Graduates from Carlos Acosta's Cuban dance academy take the stage for a programme that bursts with youthful energy and strength. Each of the four pieces has strong echoes of Caribbean culture, catching the vibes of life on a tropical island while also reflecting larger social issues. Fluidly choreographed, this is a riveting show, and a promising look at the future of dance.

Fuga, choreographed by Susana Pous, opens with a group of dancers languishing in the sunshine on a spotlit square of green in the middle of the stage with the sounds of the sea. Their movement starts gradually, as they awaken and start to interact, looking beyond their shores to another life but refusing to let others go. They smoothly shift, roll and stretch both individually and communally. And as they begin to escape, it becomes strikingly moving. 

In a red frame around the edge of the stage, a pair of dancers (a girl in black and a boy in red) take a playfully exploratory journey around the space, spinning and echoing each other in complex textures of interaction. This is an eye-catching display of athleticism, using balance and flexibility to create a deconstructed take on both ballroom and ballet, with added drama!

Inspired by René Magritte's series The Lover, Kit Holder's Capriccio begins with two male dancers whose heads are wrapped together in a sheet; one flexes his muscles in casual wear, the other is in a suit. They move together in silence, pushing and pulling each other reactively. This duality is echoed in individual solos, performed alternatively side-by-side, leading to a stunning duet featuring dazzling choreographical flourishes. Their expressive chemistry is astonishing.

Finally, Juliano Nunes' Mundo Interpretado (Interpreted World) is framed by a floating field of water lilies designed by artist Glenda León. Beneath this, six dancers execute big moves together along to the rhythmic music. This mesmerising piece evolves into various solos, duets and group moments, progressing through sexy lifts, flips and flight, as the sound of waves returns. The interlocking movement is gorgeous, shifting from an edgy struggle into the blissful joy of balletic precision.

This is a beautiful show full of powerful physicality, mixing classical and modern dance with acrobatics. And the cleverly understated costumes perfectly augment each piece. The movement is so expressive that we feel like we are breathing in sync with these gifted dancers. Their youthful spark adds a terrific kick to the entire programme, revealing their serious strength and talent while hinting at much more to come.

For information, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Jayne Jackson, Yuris Nórido • 17.Jun.26

Stage: Cheeky deities

Return of the Godz
by Head First Acrobats
performers Callan Harris, Liam Dummer, Thomas Gorham, AJ Saltalamacchia, Mat Piva
costumes Chelsea Angell, Bryn Meredith
Peacock Theatre, London • 10-20.Jun.26 ★★★★

Australia's Head First Acrobats brings an updated version of their audience-favourite show back to Peacock. And the five performers are having so much fun that they infect the audience with their cheeky charm. These men are seriously gifted at feats of strength and balance, but they're also relentlessly silly, sexy and a lot of fun.

A loose story establishes them as the family of Zeus, who in voiceover insists that they behave. But they enjoy playing far too much, led by the charismatic Hercules (Callan Harris) and egged on by Cupid (Liam Dummer), Apollo (Thomas Gorham), Dionysus (AJ Saltalamacchia) and Hermes (Mat Piva). They kick things off with a series of remarkably slow, controlled movements with impressive hand and head stands that are peppered with amusing moments.

Indeed, witty touches are everywhere, including continual asides to the audience in the form of poses and grins. Their personalities spark on-stage, creating strong characters that add a kick to their physical prowess. There's ladder balancing, flaming batons, knife throwing, a tower of chairs, flips and tumbles, extreme aerial work and some outrageous juggling. In between is plenty of goofy schtick, including a bit of audience participation and some flashy choreography. 

Just after the interval, they get up to a series of outrageous manoeuvres completely naked. The challenge is to protect their dignity while striking Greek statue poses, with plenty of distractions from their colleagues. So while the narrative spirals wildly out of control, there's a nonstop series of entertaining acrobatics that often take the breath away with sheer skill and audacity.

Thankfully, the stag remains relatively simple, with accompanying snappy pop tunes from Need You Tonight to Filthy Gorgeous. The resulting atmosphere echoes a freewheeling circus, offering moments that feel improvised as these guys continually poke fun at each other. This also allows the focus to remain balanced between their impressive physicality and their sparky flirtation. 

For details, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Beck Stone, Jacinta Oaten • 10.Jun.26

Dance: Rage against the machine

Remachine
choreography Jefta van Dinther
creators/performers Brittanie Brown, Gyung Moo Kim, Leah Marojeviç, Manon Parent, Roger Sala Reyner, Sarah Stanley
music David Kiers with Anna von Hausswolff
lighting Jonatan Winbo • costumes Cristina Nyffeler
dramaturgy Gabriel Smeets, Maja Zimmermann
Sadler's Wells East, Stratford • 14-16.May.26 ★★★

For Remachine, Berlin-based Swedish-Dutch dancer and choreographer Jefta van Dinther takes on the issue of how humans interact with an increasingly mechanised environment. It's a very big topic, but this 65-minute show is packed with dazzling moments that capture a proper sense of determination and tension, impressively performed by a cast of six dancers who also sing the gorgeous harmonies. Repetition makes the piece sometimes feel slow, and the thematic approach is a little on-the-nose. But its visceral power is thrilling.

The stage is filled with an enormous disc, with six performers sitting on the edge as it rotates. They sing about feeling restless and old, enjoying simple pleasures as they face life's challenges. And they begin to move, resisting the stage's movement, making connections with each other or seeking stability on the ever-turning floor. Lyrical songs and choreography provide imagery that echoes work, rituals and camaraderie, as well as individuality, rebellion and tenacity. 

Without a standout character, each dancer creates a specific personality that feeds into their interaction. The performers must continually contend with this spinning floor, sometimes working skilfully to maintain their position and at other times letting it drag them in circles. This physicality is seriously demanding, not least in the way all of the movements are made in focussed slow motion, even in moments when the group becomes synchronised. And their vocalisations are also challenging, soaring through the haunting songs.

Lighting is subtle, inventively glowing in specific spaces. In one striking sequence, the only illumination comes from under the rim of the turning disc. And the rotation is variable, speeding up or slowing down, but always inescapable. At one point, the disc briefly comes to a halt when all of the performers are standing on the stage behind it, and they are of course tempted to get back on board. Costumes are eye-catching, post-apocalyptic chic with loose-fitting textures and oversized trainers. 

As we watch, ideas about how we grapple with our always-spinning world worm their way into our subconscious, evoking thoughts and feelings about what it means to be human amongst so much technology. Yes, some of the imagery is a bit obvious, and many segments continue long after the concept has been clearly conveyed. But even this resonates in a steely way, leading to a yearning closing refrain that reverberates through the room after the lights fade: "Will we fall where we fall? Will we fall?"

For information, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Jubal Battisti • 14.May.26

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

Dance: Joyful mischief

Dance Consortium presents
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
artistic director Tory Dobrin
dancers Vincent Brewer, Harrison Broadbent, Raydel Caceres, Robert Carter, AJ David, Matias Dominguez Escrig, Andrea Fabbri, Peter Gwiazda, Liam Hutt, Antonio Lopez, Jake Speakman, Takaomi Yoshino
lighting Isaac Castillo
costumes Mike Gonzales, Jeffrey Sturdivant
UK & Ireland tour • 30.Apr-24.Jun.26 ★★★★

Based in New York, this world-famous international company returns to London as part of its 50th anniversary UK tour. Frankly, seeing the Trocks is essential for any dance fan, as this all-male company perform big pieces in ways that combine top-notch skill with hilarious pastiche. They continually poke fun at choreography, music and the history of classical ballet, while also showing how seriously they take their craft. And they fill the theatre with a joyously diva-like attitude.

The programme opens with their now-iconic take on Swan Lake Act II, with Tchaikovsky's music and Lev Ivanovich Ivanov's choreography, as the swan Queen Odette (Jake Speakman) and human Prince Siegfried (Andrea Fabbri) attempt to outfox the evil Rothbart (Robert Carter) so they can have a happy ever after. The gloriously evocative dance is performed with witty flourishes, exaggerated poses and riotous asides, including as Odette's annoyance at Siegfried's interloping friend Benno (Antonio Lopez) and Rothbart's Palpatine like power zaps.

After the first interval, the Sadler's Wells shows feature Le Corsaire pas de deux, with music by Riccardo Drigo and choreography after Vakhtang Chabukiani, in which a woman (Peter Gwiazda) is pursued by a pirate (Raydel Caceres). Her movement is graceful, his is more athletic, and this distinction becomes increasingly noticeable as he strikes muscular poses that increasingly put her off. This is followed by Metal Garden, with free flowing choreography by Seán Curran, in which the company expertly uses movement that both celebrates and parodies modern ballet. The silly walks are particularly memorable. This section closes with the Trocks' most memorable piece: The Dying Swan, passionately performed by prima ballerina Olga Supphozova (Carter).

Finally, Paquita features music by Ludwig Minkus and choreography after Marius Petipa, staged on a grand scale with the whole company in motion around a romance between sparky lead ballerina (Takaomi Yoshino) and her rather dopey blond cavalier (Caceres). When he misses a lift, she makes him do pushups for penance. And the dancers around them seem to be trying just a little too hard to get everything just right. So when they get it right, it's dazzling.

While there are sequences in which the entire company is beautifully synchronised, many moments feature footwork that's amusingly askance. Rogue dancers break formation for various reasons, keeping the audience giggling helplessly. This includes at least two proper pratfalls, a couple of grudge-matches, some eyebrow-raising flirtation and lots of showing off. But for each time someone falls over, other scenes take the breath away with sheer physical skill. The spins are especially impressive. The clever thing about this company is the way they project feminine charm with masculine undertones. And their undiluted happiness is infectious.

For information and tour dates, LES BALLETS TROCKADERO >

photos by Christopher Gagliardi, Vito Lorusso,
 José Luis Marrero Medina, Roberto Ricci

Sadler's Wells, 5.May.26

Dance: Across the sea

We Caliban
concept, choreography & direction Shobana Jeyasingh
dancers Harry Ondrak-Wright, Holly Vallis, Raúl Reinoso Acanda, Oliver Mahar, George Gregory, Tanisha Addicott, Gabriel Ciulli, Tabitha O’Sullivan
text consultant Priyamvada Gopal • dramaturg Uzma Hameed
composer Thierry Pécou • sound Fred DeFaye
sets & costumes Mayou Trikerioti
lighting Floriaan Ganzevoort • projection William Duke
Sadler's Wells East, Stratford • 21-23.Apr.26 ★★★

There's a strikingly loose visual style to this fascinating take on Shakespeare's The Tempest, as dancers energetically dive into swirling choreography that's more expressive than precise. This helps to draw out personal insights in a story that plays with a central theme of colonialism, specifically the superiority one culture can feel toward another. The impressive staging includes dazzling lighting and projections. And even if it feels both on-the-nose and rather elusive, the show is thoroughly gripping.

It opens on Prospero (Harry Ondrak-Wright), his daughter Miranda (Holly Vallis), his brother Antonio (Oliver Mahar) and their learned community. In a power struggle, Prospero and Miranda are set adrift, washing ashore far from home. In this foreign land, they encounter Caliban (Raúl Reinoso Acanda) and his own learned community. But Prospero and Miranda insist on teaching them their civilised ways, even as Miranda falls for Caliban, which is something Prospero is definitely not happy about.

The stretchy, spinning choreography features astonishing shapes and powerful lifts, performed slowly for maximum impact. It's also intriguingly rough around the edges. Dancers sometimes link together, entangled in sexy formations. There's scrappy violence, and group sequences that are almost, but not quite, in unison. It's eye-catching and often thrilling to watch, especially as intense emotions churn between the characters. One provocative touch is to have the performers carrying books to symbolise culture. Of course Prospero believes his book is better than the Caliban books, while Miranda tames the "savage" Caliban using art, including ballroom dancing lessons. But then, he also teaches her lusty moves in a tender, exploratory sequence.

Cool lighting designs augment the movement, surrounding the dancers with spotlights that bounce off a string curtain to create shimmering textures. The soundscape features music by Thierry Pécou, voiceover readings and snippets of dialog that accompany the on-screen text and video. A big storm brings these elements together with a dazzling array of light, sound and wind. And all of this reverberates with condescending colonial attitudes towards "uncivilised heathens". Against this, the earthy, warm-hued costumes have a hint of sci-fi about them, as if this is taking place on a planet Captain Kirk is about to beam onto.

Playing out through seven distinct scenes, there are highlights peppered throughout the show, most notably two superbly expressive duets involving Reinoso Acanda alongside Vallis and then Tanisha Addicott. With echoing movements, these feature impressively controlled displays of strength and balance. Then in the end, the plot continues into a rather chilly final sequence in which Prospero asserts his control. And the way the Caliban community is left changed forever is haunting.

For information, SHOBANA JEYASINGH DANCE >

photos by Foteini Christofilopoulou • 21.Apr.26

Dance: Dancing in the streets

The Center Will Not Hold
A Dorrance Dance Production
created and directed by Ephrat Asherie, Michelle Dorrance
with John Angeles, Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie, Manon Bal, Tomoe “Beasty” Carr, Michelle Dorrance, Zakhele “Bboy Swazi” Grabowski, Fritzlyn Hector, Caleb Lawrence Jackson, Michael Manson Jr, Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, Matthew “Megawatt” West
music Donovan Dorrance • costumes Amy Page
lighting Kathy Kaufmann • sound Christopher Marc
Sadler's Wells, London • 17-18.Apr.26 ★★★★★

A continuous blast of rhythmic physicality, this astonishing one-hour UK premiere traces an expansive range of vernacular dance, everyday community-based movement that is rarely learned formally. It follows a through-line from tap to street, house, hip hop and other American styles of fancy footwork. And the company is an eclectic group of performers who use their own body types and personal skills to choreograph the show, with solos that are improvised on the spot. It's utterly mesmerising to watch, propulsive and thrilling but also playful and engaging on a variety of levels.

The performance styles merge into each other with the help of fiendishly inventive lighting that makes the dancers appear or disappear, often glowing in a dreamily as they float across the stage seemingly defying laws of time and space. And a repeating motif finds them either trapped or highlighted in spotlight squares and circles. Accompanying Donovan Dorrance's soulful music, talented percussionist John Angeles is on-stage throughout the piece. He adds his own muscular presence, creating rhythms with drums, cymbals, a table, the stage and his own body as he joins in the movement. 

Repeatedly at the centre are Ephrat Asherie and Michelle Dorrance, who appear in a central rectangle, bouncing both together and against each other. This show was born from their 2022 duet A Little Room, then expanded and reimagined around them. And each performer is allowed to steal the focus. Standouts include Tomoe Carr with her fierce intensity and Caleb Lawrence Jackson with his over-sized afro and lightning-fast feet. And then there are Matthew West, Charles Riley and Zakhele Grabowski, who reject gravity as they throw their feet to the sky, spinning on their heads and hands with extraordinary strength. 

Costumes have a deceptive simplicity: black suits and trainers or tap shoes. Combined with the plain stage, this allows us to see the performers' physical motion as they catch the light in intriguing ways, especially when primary colours are applied. This is an innovative, thumpingly involving show that continually surprises us with insight, such as the way it reveals the innate elegance in popping and breaking. And the camaraderie between the dancers comes through vividly. They're clearly having a great time, so of course we want to get on the stage with them.

For information, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Christopher Duggan • 17.Apr.26

Dance: Remember my name

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Sweet Mambo
direction & choreography Pina Bausch
dancers Andrey Berezin, Naomi Brito, Nayoung Kim, Daphnis Kokkinos, Alexander López Guerra, Reginald Lefebvre, Nazareth Panadero, Helena Pikon, Julie Shanahan, Julie Anne Stanzak, Aida Vainieri
sets & video Peter Pabst
costumes Marion Cito
music Matthias Burkert, Andreas Eisenschneider
Sadler's Wells, London • 11-21.Feb.26 ★★★★

First staged in 2008, the legendary Pina Bausch's penultimate work is only now making its London premiere. It's a sprawling expressionistic exploration of human emotion that touches on everything from love and joy to isolation and fear over two hours. It's also an unusually intimate piece that allows nine dancers to express their personalities and interact with the audience. These six women and three men are a fascinating mix of nationalities and ages (seven were in the original 2008 cast), and each asks us to remember their name.

They all get to perform a range of solos and duets, with tonal shifts provided by an eclectic mix of musical genres and sound that often lifts the choreography but also sits cleverly at odds with it. All of this is assembled almost like a sketch show, with vignettes flowing into each other, echoing back and forth with running gags and repeated movement. Much of this is very funny, as scenes use both subtle wit, archly camp moments and some full-on nuttiness. As the primary comic in the piece, the delightful Nazareth Panadero adds Lynchian surrealism to her hilarious riffs.

By contrast, Julie Shanahan has the most emotional elements, especially in a stormy sequence in which she is held back again and again by men while she cries out, "Let me go!" She's also nearly run over by a table and drenched with buckets of water. Then at the very end she runs into the audience, where she grabbed me on press night begging for help because another dancer wouldn't leave her alone.

One of the key repeating images is of the three men, dressed in black, drawn to the women in their flowing colourful gowns, bothering them, pushing and pulling them (by skirts and hair), while the women both assert control and defiantly express their independence. Some scenes are sweetly romantic, others are downright harrowing. But the overall tone reflects the balance of life experiences. Highlights include young Alexander López Guerra's show-stopping twisty, groovy solo. And Naomi Brito gets a glorious spotlight turn inside a billowing curtain to Lisa Ekdahl's Cry Me a River.

Curtains feature dramatically on the bare stage, often fluttering in the breeze, occasionally with images from the 1938 German comedy The Blue Fox projected onto them. Props include pillows, masks and champagne glasses, as Julie Anne Stanzak amusingly coaxes us to whisper "brush" to look magnetic at parties. And to perform cartwheels everywhere we go. In other words, this wondrously offbeat show traverses a huge range of moods and attitudes, with choreography that is joyfully extended as well as sensually evocative, mischievous and tormented, loose, free and magical. It may feel somewhat random, but the visceral effect is powerfully celebratory.

For details, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Karl-Heinz Krauskopf, Oliver Look • 11.Feb.26