With a highly experienced team behind this production it is no wonder that Identity by CTC COMPANY at Greenside, Infirmary St. is such a joy to hear and see.
Such a joy to hear and see
Creator & Choreographer Christopher Tendai was in the original West End cast of Hamilton. His Co-Creator and Director, Denzel Westley-Sanderson, is a member of the resident directors’ pool at the Almeida Theatre, London. Associate Choreographer, Jac O’Kody, is a singing and dancing specialist who trained at Italia Conti.
Identity revolves around a central character played by Caitlin Taylor, who is also the source of the spoken word elements in the piece and the live guitar music and songs. The rest of the cast, consisting of Chloe Jane Nestor, Marina Climent Casas, Callum Tempest, Luke Cartwright, Tiziano Longu, Sam Malseed, and Shomari Knott form a dance ensemble around her.
Taylor, with audience assistance, takes a Polaroid photo of herself and studies it. What follows can be experienced as a sort of meditation and reflection upon what she sees. Looking into herself she considers her position. Having lost her partner she wonders what is left and what is her worth in life. Exploring her self-image she wonders how others see her. Through her words and movements it is easy to picture her alone, perhaps in her bedroom. She picks up her guitar and sings a song she has created that expresses her plight, then moves on to speak of her feelings, mostly in prose, but sometimes breaks into poetry; an effective device that enhances the rhythms in the dance, and brings varied tempos to her speech, particularly in the dactylic verse fragment.
A tenderness and sensitivity pervades all of this. In contrast, ensemble scenes are given to more anguished outbursts, as though reflecting a deeper inner turmoil and angst. Their style is frequently characterised by bold, broad gestures, heavy downward movement and pounding reminiscent of the haka, an image supported by black body paint and black costumes. Added to this are some pre-recorded tracks, played at various intervals through the performance, from the album Welcome To My Diary by Sam G. The sounds and sentiments of these carefully chosen vocals fit perfectly with the those being explored in this piece, as indicated by their titles: Beautiful To You; Dig Deeper and Closer 2 You. Thanks go to technician Brian Holt for holding these elements together.
By the end it is possible to appreciate that, in the words of the final song, ‘This is the hardest story, That I have ever told’. Yet the lone girl found the strength to share it and in so doing perhaps relieved some of the pain, but will she attain the song’s title, Happy Ending?
