Skip to main content

Review of Broken by Motionhouse at The Castle Theatre, Wellingborough

When I first investigated Motionhouse's Broken via its vivid trailer, it felt as if it could offer some fascinating stage work familiar to that of Frantic Assembly, which I truly wanted to see more of. Therefore I found myself in the main theatre at Wellingborough for the very first time last week to see what was going to be quite a show.

The first thing to say is that Motionhouse is in reality a very different beast to the work of Frantic Assemby, happily plowing its own rich reserves of contemporary dance, where as Frantic builds a story around physical motion. What artistic director Kevin Finnan brings to the stage is a world travelling a path of early human evolution through to a potential collapse as we reach at the end a cataclysmic event. Well that is what it feels like, as much like a painting, the audience might get many feelings and emotions from the scenes depicted. In the early cave scenes we appear to have dancing amoebas as life begins. Then we progress through to cavemen and strange apparitions, including some impressive stilt work. Finally we have a domestic situation in a block of flats which carries us into a quite spectacular visual feast of a conclusion.

The performers Martina Bussi, Daniel Connor, Junior Cunningham, Alasdair Stewart, Naomi Tadevossian and Rebecca Williams are never short of stunning as they show tremendous strength and emotion through their dance. Seeing some of them after the show is quite a revelation as they are so surprisingly small in person. Dancers have quite an amazing way to appear to have such strength through apparently minimal visual effort, bringing a wonderful delicate touch. This is what makes the whole thing so tender. It is without doubt a remarkable ability.

Technically and aurally the show is an equally amazing prospect. Pumping and dynamic music from Sophy Smith and Tim Dickinson combines wonderfully with Logela Multimedia's work on the imagery. The dancers magically timing their arrival and departures in tune with the vast projections. I also loved the way the lighting during the cave scene managed to play wonderful giant shadows across the side of the theatre.

So an absolute delight of a show, which may have at times suffered from a couple of the sequences being slightly over long. However it builds with every scene adding more technical advances and finishes with a simply stunning piece. Very highly recommended.

««««½


Performance reviewed: Thursday 25th February, 2016 at the Castle Theatre, Wellingborough.

Broken by Motionhouse was performed at the Castle Theatre , Wellingborough on Thursday 25th February, 2016 only but it currently touring into April. Details can be found at http://www.motionhouse.co.uk/index.shtml

For details about The Castle see their website at http://thecastle.org.uk/

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Single White Female at Milton Keynes Theatre

The 1990s movie Single White Female was a classic pulp fiction offering of the time, off the back of films such as Fatal Attraction and released in the same year as the legendary Basic Instinct , these were the ultimate times for erotic thrillers/bunny boiler films. So, the question is: is such a genre still relevant today, and, even more so, can a theatre play succeed in transferring the theme to a new medium altogether? Allie is a recently divorced mother trying to juggle single parenting with starting her own tech company. To help with expenses, she looks for a lodger and finds Hedy, who seems like the perfect solution. However, as they get to know each other, the lines between their lives start to blur, and what seemed like an ideal setup begins to fall apart. For those familiar with the original film, there will be immediate observations of changes that adaptor Rebecca Reid has made. While lifting the entire plot from the US to the UK is obvious, developing Allie into Bella's...
Read more

Review of Friends - The Musical Parody at Milton Keynes Theatre

The One Where 2026 starts in a world of confusion. And so, 2026 is upon us and for my first trip to the theatre this year, one of my most significant reviewing challenges was to occur. Touring to Milton Keynes Theatre is Friends - The Musical Parody , based, unsurprisingly, on that little American show that ran to a few audience members for ten years. However, I confess that I was not, and have never been in that audience, never having seen a single episode of the show. However, always up for a review challenge and doing my due diligence by having a Friends superfan as my plus one, I headed to Milton Keynes with anticipation. For those unfamiliar with the show, I could say I can’t help; however, a quick review of some of the information you might need (thanks, Google and my plus one). Running for ten years between 1994 and 2004 with 236 episodes (quiz question, you are welcome), the main characters consisted of Phoebe (ditzy, writer of sad songs), Monica (in possession of an unfeasibly...
Read more

Review of Frankie Goes To Bollywood at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

There is no question that Rifco Theatre Company, the producers of Frankie Goes To Bollywood , now running at Royal & Derngate as part of a UK Tour, have come up with a cracking title for their show. However, as Bollywood descends upon Northampton, the question is, is this a gimmick title attached to a shallow show, or are we heading for Bollywood dreams? The show, unsurprisingly, follows a character named Frankie and tells the story of her dream to become a Bollywood star, a dream she shares with her best friend, Goldy. Following an opportune encounter with a famous Bollywood director, Frankie is invited to audition for his next movie, and her adventures begin. However, will the dream be the one she truly imagined? What is evident with Frankie Goes To Bollywood on stage is the love for creating a big, bold production. The staging is colourful and tries very hard to be epic, just like the Bollywood movies that it tells its story through. Unfortunately for all the boldness on offer,...
Read more