Theatre

Beings

Alan Hindle | Wednesday 24 August, 2011 13:49

Butoh is a form of dance requiring absolute control. It can move quite quickly, but often, more usually, moves at a snail’s pace, the body creeping in slow motion across a room, or through a complex series of movements. In Between Butoh’s production takes Antonin Artaud’s The Cencis, itself an adaptation of Percy Shelley’s play of 1819, and employs this resolute discipline to tell a tale of incest and murder. The story opens with dancer Flavia Ghisalberti cocooned, or perhaps mummified, in plastic wrap and fighting to be free. From the far corner of the room, Ezio Tangini, contorted into an inhuman pile of twisted limbs, inches towards her. They finally meet and there is a peace, but it is short-lived. Beings is so abstract it’s hard to convey in a review what it might be about. Ghisalberti’s mute rage and Tangini’s frozen anguish ripple through the tiny Sheephaven Bay’s back room performance space, better suited to sketch comedy than performance art. In Between Butoh is based in Italy and Switzerland, but the company knew long in advance the shape of the room and I have to wonder why they chose it. Still, the performers used the space as well as could be hoped. The cellist provided a spare, Tom Waitsian soundscape.

Camden Fringe Festival page

---