Dance, physical theatre, drama, film, spoken word and poetry are all to be found in this fast paced production from Hepzibah Theatre.
The story is simple: a young woman sets off on a hedonistic adventure abroad, leaving behind a family she has fractured in the process. The adventure starts well, with twenty-four hour parties, but when she begins to experience a bit more adventure than she anticipated she loses her sense of self and wonders whether she will ever be found again.
The storytelling itself is a mix of multiple theatre genres, most of which work well.Ruth Horsfall and Jane McLeod are both dancers and use a mix of ballet, contemporary, dubstep and pure physical theatre to portray action, emotion and mood. Sometimes one shadow dances the other, sometimes they role play, sometimes it’s a duet and sometimes a solo. The choreography captures the feeling of the moment and the dancing is beautiful, energetic and perfectly timed. Only a couple of solo dances, although lovely, seemed a little out of place.
Jane McLeod is also a spoken word artist and many of the monologues highlight her talent. Her words are well observed and delivered at a steady, upbeat pace, like moments of performance poetry nestled in physical dance. Sometimes these excerpts are punctured by images on the screen, paced in time with the words. Hand-held video footage is used to good effect, as is a waveform of the sound from a real news item.
However, there is a feeling that together, it’s all a bit too much, as though the duo have tried to capture everything they know, can do and can use in one single show; the dancing and the poetry are good enough by themselves. The coffee shop scene seems too long and the inclusion of the recession felt like one issue too many. The redemption script, referred to several times, also felt, at times, somewhat overbearing and naive.
However, this is a highly enjoyable 50 minutes of energetic dance and performance poetry, coupled with just about everything else you can think of.
