English National Ballet, Sadler’s Wells Finally seeing the light of day after being pushed back by the dreaded virus, Akram Khan’s latest work looms large onto the stage. With striking illusions of classic literature and a futuristic sci-fi feel Creature explores a human emotion we know so well, loneliness! Everyone’s favourite right? A small bin is lit from within and Jeffrey Cirio, ...
Sadler’s Wells ‘Unevenness that technical skill cannot temper’ Started in 2008, Hofesh Shechter’s eponymous company has built upon the choreographer’s impressive body of work. Double Murder is two pieces dissimilar in almost every way, split down the middle, right and left side of the brain, yin and yang, Sonny and Cher – you get the point. First is 2016’s Clowns, filled with ...
Sadler’s Wells ‘Adaptable, astounding and delightful’ Jonzi D – emcee, dancer, artist, poet and director – as always kicks off the evening with some apt words: “The fabric of society is torn, too much tension, time for new ideas to be born.” Breakin’ Convention and we’re off again! No matter what is thrown at the original hip-hop festival, it adapts. From ...
‘A moving, breathing piece of creativity’ As the good-looking, moneyed masses of Sadler’s Wells filter into the space, they are met by an atmosphere that looks worryingly like a forest fire. Haze swells around and floodlights overhead cast eerie shadows. Ominous portents of what is to come from Alexander Whitley’s new piece Overflow. Known for pushing the boundaries of dance, his dedication ...
Sadlers Wells Sex, scandal, 18th-century court-life, and an unfathomable amount of letter writing. The Northern Ballet’s adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Novel is precisely what you would expect and not a step more. Greeted by one of the most minimal “period” interiors I have ever seen the luxury of the 1988 film is already a far cry away. David ...
Sadler’s Wells The UK’s oldest established dance company returns to Sadler’s Well staging a live digital show that was streamed in 2020, Drawn from Within. On a close summer night, we are thrown into many worlds, some dreams others nightmarish, but like the variation in the pieces, there is also a variation in quality. Wim Vandekeybus, acclaimed director, choreographer, and ...
‘Ballet is back and in a big way!’ Sadler’s Wells flings its doors wide open, with a little queuing and NHS QR-coding first of course, and welcome us back with a joyful compilation of new choreography and gifted dancers. What better way to kick off a summer of optimism for the theatre industry? The five pieces are unconnected and differ in ...
Phoenix Theatre Like the music of Sting? How about over simplistic but endearingly hopeful tales of forcible displacement? Energetic dance? Well, Message in a Bottle, in the kinda-jukebox show for you! Kate Prince brings her eclectic mix of choreography/direction to play with a tale crafted out of the ex-police frontman and solo artist’s music. Following 3 siblings from an undisclosed village ...
‘A celebration of local culture and resilience’ Some people ask Santa for something wholesome like world peace, or an argument-free family Christmas, but my one wish (like the little theatre nerd I am) is always to see Jonzi D’s hip-hop festival Breakin’ Convention return for another year. This wish was partly answered last year with Social DisDancing, performed at Sadler’s Wells ...
Barbican Centre ‘An unpredictable explosion of creativity’ Can a choreographer’s work be effectively understood in a gallery setting? How do you collate half a lifetime’s worth of projects in just five or six rooms? And how does the experience fare in the age of Covid-19 and social distancing? The Barbican’s first major exhibition of choreographer and dancer Michael Clark tries ...