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Fringe 2008 Reviews (40)
Todos Los Gatos Son Pardos
Arrieritos
Universal Arts
****
Madrid-based ensemble Arrieritos have taken their title from a Spanish
proverb ‘all cats are black’. It has a folklorish resonance
with the show that draws on traditional flamenco to create a vibrant
poetry of contemporary dance.
The first piece is performed by an ensemble of five white-clad dancers
who sway, sometimes achingly, in a circle, offsetting their balletic
choreography with firm percussive feet. It’s the starkest piece
in the show, which goes on to present, in ways which are sometimes witty
and sometimes dark, a flamenco that has permeated not only the language
of Spanish dance but Spanish culture.
Their most playful episode shows a group of artists arriving at their
peña wearing exactly the same dress, while the resident
male dancer sports a pair of extremely shiny red shoes. Day to day chat
infiltrates the dramatic pauses that come after long and climactic flamenco
phrases. It’s charming and never falls into parody through the
spirit and energy of the dancers.
Elsewhere, a red-lit street provides a background as dark and dangerous
as a Vettriano, where two lovers (Kelian Jiménez and Elena Santonja)
fight in an exquisite flamenco-tango while Teresa Nieto and Florencio
Campo, representing the black cats of the title, roll and wrestle tenderly
on the opposite side of the stage.
The cast are let down by the huge elevated stage at Universal Arts,
and I can’t help thinking that had they chosen a more intimate
venue, this could have been one of the most electrifying shows on this
year’s Fringe.
Lucy Ribchester
Some People Think I'm Odd
By Mike Fosbrook
Studio 91
The Vault
***
I've seen utterly brilliant and totally excruciating one-woman shows
at the Fringe over the years: this one, I have to say, falls squarely
in the middle. Jane Frost plays Pandora who has a fascination with knives
and enjoys cutting things. She tells us of her obsession and the things
she has done, sometimes by recreating the event and sometimes using
a Punch and Judy show.
Whilst Pandora comes over as believable, her recreations do not work
terribly effectively as there is little differentiation between the
characters, but the Punch and Judy works very well. Our remembrance
of Punch's cruelty adds an extra dimension and lreaves one definitely
thinking, "That's the way to do it".
Peter Lathan
Parallel/Parallels
plan B @ Dance Base
***(*)
If there is a medium that can successfully fuse science and art, dance
is a strong contender. Notions of momentum, gravity, air resistance
and the channelling of energy are present in any flowing of motion.
Parallel/Parallels by plan B, hosted by Dance Base, goes one
step further and incorporates verbal musings on the universe along with
jaunty songs about quantum physics and projections of algebra on the
floor. All this takes place within a theatre of parallel universes
movable black slatted screens divide the stage for the traverse seated
audience so the two sides get quite different shows or different
perspectives on the same show. More repeated images are found in distorting
mirrors which flank the space, and a shiny floor that picks up a sheen
of reflection too, hinting at the endless possibilities of worlds beyond
those we know.
The pieces fuses text, movement and live music, and after a first half
which seems disjointed or building towards something that never comes,
the second-half yields moments of real beauty, with dancers whirring
like particles round a central nucleus. The ideas are all there, and
while some of them could improve with refining, this ambitious work
that demonstrates some of the beauty present in science, is worthy in
its aim.
Lucy Ribchester
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