Adventures in Movement (pt 1)

The following are two reviews of works in progress that were presented as part of the Create 09: Adventures in Movement at the Arcola Theatre. The event runs from July 6 – August 12. For more information and for a full programme visit the Arcola Theatre website.

After Cinderella
By Liz Chan and Daniel Weyman
(work in progress)

Inspired by the meeting point between fairytale and real life, After Cinderella is a short physical theatre duet exploring the world beyond the ‘happy-ending’.

Liz Chan and Daniel Weyman both performed in Cinderella at the Lyric Hammersmith, which inspired them to work on the ‘afterlife’ of the fairytale. The two performers work beautifully together. They demonstrate interconnectedness in their movements, and a dramaturgy to their synchronicity whereby each new sequence of movement alters the one before.

It’s riveting to watch two performers transform their bodies from raw material to dancing figures in a dark fantasy world. Repetition and deconstruction play key roles in this piece as the same movement sequence that opens the performance is re-enacted at the end. The difference is this time the two bodies are not separate, they work as a single entity.

There are a number of moments in the performance that have a dangerous but beautiful quality – shifting between violence and tenderness – and that is something I would like to see develop in establishing the stage language of a fairytale lost in its own future.

I’d also like to see the duo play more with the darker side of the happy ending, adding a wider range of movement and vigour between the two performers. As it stands, After Cinderella is a grippingly raw, physical exploration of fairytale.

Violet Smile
By Sweetshop Revolution
(work in progress)

A piece with a great sense of humour, Violet Smile is a physical monologue that explores the experiences of a waitress in Transylvania. The performer, Tamzen Moulding, plays with plates, ropes and sticks in an energetic performance that goes through the emotions of a vampire waiting for its prey, from lust and greed to desire and attack.

The piece integrates circus and movement with vigour and breadth. Tamzen arranges and re-arranges her plates, moves around them, climbs above them and balances her weight, skilfully descending in the space of play and danger she has created. There is a balance between instability and equilibrium as she goes through the different qualities of a vampire, building upon her routine as a waitress.

The physical storytelling in Violet Smile and the playfulness of the situation is not fully explored. The two guiding emotions of the piece, sensuality and innocence, are too closely knit. Where Violet Smile could really excel is entering the uncharted territory it so strongly wants to toy with.