Peacock Theatre On a sweltering evening, we pack into the Peacock theatre. Fans patter like falling autumn leaves in the audience, as Beyond Bollywood returns to the West End after a triumphant run at the London Palladium in 2015! The sparkle, energy, and exuberance are intoxicating, even if some of the wires of the machine have blown. The concept is a good ...
Sadler’s Wells From its 1605 publication to its 2022 balletic incarnation, Miguel de Cervantes’s tale of the man from La Mancha has captured hearts and imaginations. Can Carlos Acosta and the full might of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia bring their own spark to the quixotic tale? In 1869 the first balletic production premiered in Moscow, choreographed ...
Sadler’s Wells Age is still a contentious subject, both in the Dance world and outside the circle of Sadler’s Wells walls. Inside the venue and others like it, the bodies of the young, fit, and predominantly (at least for most of its history) white humans have been the ones presented to us. 2014 brought a celebration of something different, the Elixir Festival, ...
Sadler’s Wells A shining example of the potential of our international-interconnected world, and a warning of the issues that plague it (quite literally in this sense). The first Pina Bausch Foundation (Germany) collaboration with École des Sables (Senegal). This touring production brings together radical new talent from 14 different African countries to 13 cities across the globe. This feat of ...
Sadler’s Wells Since its inception in 2015 Kyle Abraham’s theatre company, A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham (standing for Abraham in Motion) has been on an impressive trajectory. A “post-Modern Gumbo” as Abraham puts it, of ideas, Black culture, history, and movement. From their home in New York the company’s far-reaching limbs touchdown in little old London. Requiem: Fire in the Air ...
Sadler’s Wells Plato waxed lyrical about it, Edith Warton was cynical about it, and now Israeli dance sensation L-E-V has trotted out their final triptych around everyone’s favourite gooey subject…..Love. Scaling-up in Sadler’s Wells and upgrading once more with famous costume design. The question is, how they will conclude on a topic that’s been done to death? Well…… well is the answer. ...
Sadler’s Wells Despite the mind-numbingly bad title this piece is showcasing “what makes Rambert Rambert”. Like Tolkien’s glowing Silmarils these 3 short pieces shine forth: individual, interesting, intriguing. Spawned by Dame Marie Rambert after seeing Isadora Duncan perform, almost 100 years of excellence have passed since then. Rambert2 brings a youth wing out into the world as the Rambert school ...
Matthias Sperling Lilian Baylis Studio Sadler’s Wells should be rightfully proud of its championing of the new, fresh and unusual side of dance. The Lilian Baylis studio is normally where this wacky world flourishes, a hothouse of creativity if you will. Matthias Sperling’s London premiere of his 2019 piece No-How Generator is certainly an experiment, one that ends not with a bang ...
Solera Sadlers Wells I love a good drink. After all, I am British. So, a show based around solera (a system of aging fortified wines by adding younger wines to mature wines to create a perfectly-aged blend) is going to go down a treat. The deeper concept however is untranslatable and forgotten in our cold rainy lexicon. The idea, applicable to art, architecture, ...
ISH Dance Collective Peacock theatre “Energy” is a word thrown around a lot nowadays when talking about theatre. “He energetically remained static during the fight scene, her energy during the monologue was outstanding”. Energy: overused and under-appreciated…however ISH Dance Collective under the direction of Marco Gerris have resurrected energy into its good old-fashioned format. a blood-pumping, head-spinning, leg kicking good ...