Time Gentlemen Please, The Demon Barbers, Theatre Royal Wakefield | reviews, news & interviews
Time Gentlemen Please, The Demon Barbers, Theatre Royal Wakefield
Time Gentlemen Please, The Demon Barbers, Theatre Royal Wakefield
Clog hop: contemporary street dance meets English folk
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Yorkshire folkies The Demon Barbers have used English dance in their live shows for several years. Time Gentlemen Please takes the idea a step further, integrating contemporary dance stylings within a cast of more traditional types. Thus three hip-hop dancers barge into a musty pub and you’re immediately aware of their sense of displacement. Their moves are jerky and uncomfortable, their body language hinting at deep unease. Then on come the clog dancers.
Damien Barber, one of the Demons, writes in the programme that to try and reach a larger and younger audience it was necessary to work with artists outside the UK folk scene. This resulting show, while still a work in progress, has evolved over the past three years with help from Yorkshire Dance and Arts Council funding. A sort of "West Yorkshire Side Story", it loosely dramatises the rivalry between two sets of factions in a northern community.
The English clog dancers, their syncopated foot stamps given extra heft by Ben Griffith’s percussion. The street dancers, by contrast, send out entirely different messages through their physicality. One character called Didge, for example, sits on a barstool with his legs wide apart. It’s a commentary on the rituals of contemporary courtship. It’s also very funny.
The band initially stay to the side of the action, slowly becoming more involved, though their contributions are not always inititally welcome. There’s a magical moment when Damien Barber begins to sing a dreary song about ravens and the other drinkers ignore and mock, until the song takes flight and soars. Snooker cues beat out menacing tattoos, before becoming the main props in a rapper sword dance, climaxing with the six cues held aloft in a star shape. It’s dazzling and terrifying to observe, as is the Longsword dance (this time with metal swords) later on. Miraculously, no one gets hurt and nothing is ever dropped.
The Demon Barbers accompany onstage for nearly 90 minutes; it’s Briony Griffith’s fiddle playing that keeps things tightly organised. It seems unfair to single out any of the dancers, but Bobak Walker’s work as one of the hip-hop crew and as lead choreographer shows generosity and real versatility; everyone gets a chance to shine.
As the evening progresses, the boundaries are broken down, and mutual respect develops between the opposing camps. There’s something wild and slightly unhinged about the atmosphere: this madness and anarchic energy found in some aspects of “traditional” English culture. There are moments in this production which on the face of it are deeply silly: two blokes spring to mind who skip about waving hankies at each other. But overall it is compelling. The awful car crash of genres never happens. Hip hop and clogs co-exist happily. Morris dancing meets Krumping.
Add comment
more Dance
All You Need Is Death review - a future folk horror classic
Irish folkies seek a cursed ancient song in Paul Duane's impressive fiction debut
MacMillan Celebrated, Royal Ballet review - out of mothballs, three vintage works to marvel at
Less-known pieces spanning the career of a great choreographer underline his greatness
Carmen, English National Ballet review - lots of energy, even violence, but nothing new to say
Johan Inger's take on Carmen tries but fails to make a point about male violence
WAKE, National Stadium, Dublin review - a rainbow river of dance, song, and so much else
THISISPOPBABY serves up a joyous tapestry of Ireland contemporary and traditional
Swan Lake, Royal Ballet review - grand, eloquent, superb
Liam Scarlett's fine refashioning returns for a third season, and looks better than ever
First Person: Ten Years On - Flamenco guitarist Paco Peña pays tribute to his friend, the late, great Paco de Lucía
On the 10th anniversary of his death, memories of the prodigious musician who broadened the reach of flamenco into jazz and beyond
Dance for Ukraine Gala, London Palladium review - a second rich helping of international dancers
Ivan Putrov's latest gala was a satisfying mix of stars and young hopefuls
Nelken: A Piece by Pina Bausch, Sadler's Wells review - welcome return for an indelible classic
A new generation of gifted performers for us to get to know
Dark With Excessive Bright, Royal Ballet review - a close encounter with dancers stripped bare
The Royal's Festival of New Choreography launches with an unforgettable walk in the dark
La Strada, Sadler's Wells review - a long and bumpy road
Even the exceptional talents of Alina Cojocaru can't save dance adaptation of Fellini film
First Person: pioneering juggler Sean Gandini reflects on how the spirit of Pina Bausch has infiltrated his work
As Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch's 'Nelken' comes to Sadler’s Wells, a tribute from across the art forms
Manon, Royal Ballet review - a glorious half-century revival of a modern classic
Fifty years on, Kenneth MacMillan's crash-and-burn anti-heroine is riding high
Comments
...