✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Dance

Motionhouse: Charge Review ★★★★★

21 Mar 18 – 24 Mar 18, 19:30 Sat mat.: 14:30 Dur.: 70 minutes no interval

Art and science, dance and circus collide in Charge, the latest Motionhouse production, now showing at the Peacock Theatre

By CW Contributor on 22/3/2018

2 CW readers are interested
Motionhouse: Charge, photo Dan Tucker
Motionhouse: Charge, photo Dan Tucker
Motionhouse: Charge Review 3 Motionhouse: Charge Review Teresa Guerreiro
Motionhouse celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2018 and to mark the milestone, Artistic Director Kevin Finnan wanted to create a production where 'art and science collide' via the company’s unique form of dance-circus featuring accomplished acrobatics, special visual effects and a versatile five-metre high set.


Charge is a production with distinct peaks and troughs. Its moments of excitement leave the audience gasping in awe, but there is more than the occasional moment of filler too. Its six committed performers are relentless in their energy and impressively brave, repeatedly throwing themselves into unfathomable lifts and drops. At times, though, the action feels chaotic.


Although visually exciting, the themes the company seek to convey (as per Finnan’s programme notes about energy and the electrical signals to our brains) are complex, and Charge is best enjoyed as a fun and experimental performance of dance and acrobatics.


Motionhouse - Charge from Sadler's Wells on Vimeo


The performance weaves in and out of narrative with snatches of stories used to convey the importance of energy in our everyday lives. The opening moments are slow; a woman (Martina Bussi) hangs precariously from the ceiling, held only by material tied to her ankles while a man (Alasdair Stewart) struggles on the floor. The woman twists and turns herself using her own strength and the material in a process reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil, before finally guiding herself down onto the stage.


The full company then take to the stage in lab coats to a jerky musical accompaniment of heady strings (courtesy of Tim Dickinson and Sophy Smith) . One cannot fault their slick synchronised movements and the fearless way in which performers are thrown around: Naomi Tadevossian is especially weightless as she floats through the air, passed from one to another almost casually.


Later there is a segment in which two women (Bussi and Rebecca Williams) stand on the shoulders of their male counterparts with legs fully stretched before one clambers onto another, forming a human tower of three and then four. The fourth reaches to the ceiling of the stage where they hang, before dropping back down to the stage and into a forward roll.


Finnan’s shows certainly move quickly. If one section does not take your fancy, the next might do and is only five minutes away. One moment the dancers navigate themselves against a projection of a spinning city environment, the next they are inside a beating human heart, mimicking its rhythm.


The merging of the dancers’ movements with the digital backdrop is one of the greatest successes of the show, and certainly impressive to the many younger audience members. A digital image of a toaster throwing its contents up into the air then sees a physical piece of bread being caught. Another time the cast disappear into a virtual backdrop but re-emerge physically elsewhere on the stage. It’s brain fuddling and breathtaking all at once.


If you’ve not seen Motionhouse’s unique brand of dance theatre before, it may certainly be worth your time. However, be prepared for some unstructured narrative ideas and general busyness. It doesn’t all quite make sense but perhaps it shouldn’t have to. There is still much to enjoy in these valiant dancers and their innovative use of visuals and set.



by Vikki Vile

What Motionhouse: Charge Review
Where Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street, London, WC2A 2HT | MAP
Nearest tube Holborn (underground)
When 21 Mar 18 – 24 Mar 18, 19:30 Sat mat.: 14:30 Dur.: 70 minutes no interval
Price £15-£29
Website Click here to book via the Peacock website



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2023
Culture After Dark: The Best Museum Late Night Openings
Culture After Dark: the best museum late-night openings

Editor's Picks

Fabrizio Cassol & Alain Platel, photo Chris Van der Burght
Fabrizio Cassol & Alain Platel, Requiem pour L. Review
Candoco Dance Company, Face In by Yasmeen Godder, photo Hugo Glendinning
Candoco Dance Company Review
The EY Exhibition: Impressionists in London, French Artists in Exile (1870 – 1904), Tate Britain
The EY Exhibition: Impressionists in London, French Artists in Exile (1870 – 1904), Tate Britain
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Roka, Aldwych

    There are four Rokas around London – Mayfair, Aldwych, Canary Wharf, and Fitzrovia – and each one provides a dark urbane corner for some of the best (if most expensive) Japanese food in London.

    Book Map
  • The Waldorf Hilton

    This 60-seater cocktail den from Idris Elba can be found at the Waldorf Hilton in Covent Garden. In addition to its 'hidden cocktail menu' (guests can expect drinks to share a tropical theme), small plates cooked up by The Waldorf’s resident Executive Chef Karl Richardson are served.

    Map
  • by CHLOE.

    Not vegan, but 'plant-based', by CHLOE. screams NYC cool with a menu to match. There’s quinoa taco salad, a guac burger, matcha kelp noodles, and thrillingly, vegan mac n' cheese. Be sure to check out their special London by CHLOE. menu for plant-based takes on British classics.

    Book Map
2

Motionhouse

Charge

Peacock Theatre

Sadler's Wells

Kevin Finnan

Louise Richards



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×