Review: Drought and Rain



Photo: Eoin Carey

 What to expect from a performance categorised as ‘dance’ but described by our very own blog as containing “little movement”? Not a lot of dancing is the short answer, but unexpectedly little dancing is required to give Drought and Rain a special and unique impact like no dance performance you’ve seen before.

The opening sequence reveals lifelike and life-sized portraits of Vietnamese soldiers in the half-light. As the lights come up, these three dimensional-looking figures are revealed as nothing more than cardboard cut-outs, supported by the female ‘dancers’ who are impenetrable in their blank yet forceful faces. It is at this point that the breathtaking simplicity of this production is revealed.

The performers are women who, during the war, sang for North Vietnamese soldiers at the front and it is their singing that asks the questions choreographer Ea Sola seeks to pose through Drought and Rain – how do our individual and shared memories process such significant cultural events and what - through time, space and subsequent generations - is the true human cost of war?

What movement there is during the piece is strong, purposeful and delivered with great meaning – a photograph thrust forwards, a heart beating quickly at the sound of gunfire and the dramatic lurching backwards as the fighting takes place around them. Most memorable of all, perhaps, is the letting down of long, dark hair in perfect unison which waves and shakes wildly as the women allow themselves to become consumed by their shared grief.

But it is the bravery with which the production delivers stillness that brings the most visually arresting moments, as though the production is clicking a camera to store images in your brain. The relentless, almost combative stares of the women transform suddenly into the toothy, wide perma-grins they wore to sing to their soldiers and, as movement ceases completely and they stare out into the auditorium, it feels unsettlingly like you are being challenged to a smiling competition you can never win.

While these powerful images are often captivating, the questions they are asking are meditated upon rather than answered. There is no attempt display narrative or linear development and to seek these things would risk rendering the production frustrating rather than strangely soothing.

If Ea Sola’s purpose with Drought and Rain was to create a shared cultural memory in her audience then many of the sequences in the piece are powerful enough to have done so. There is no dancing, it is true, but the movements are delivered with a touching simplicity that is hard to resist.

Drought and Rain

Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 September, 8pm
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

Book now at eif.co.uk/drought

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

Review: Shen Wei Dance Arts Re- (I, II, III) / The Triptych

Photo: Eoin Carey

By Emma Caldwell
 
Shen Wei’s Re-Triptych takes the audience on a journey; throughout the course of the three part piece we are taken from snowy-topped Tibetan Himalayas, to a humid Cambodian jungle, finally ending up in a dizzying, digital modern-day China.
 
Re- (I) opens with the dancers sat in a circle around a huge confetti mandala, the sky backdrop gives the impression they are sat atop a mountain. Tibetan chanting accompanies their movements - the confetti sprays up and covers their bodies like snow-flakes as they swoop and soar like birds. The lights are clear and bright evoking the cool, crisp atmosphere of a winter’s day, and then becoming warm as though the sun is setting. This cycle continues and it feels as though we are witnessing the passing of many days. The pace slows and the lights come down, we have left Tibet.
 
As the lights come up on Re- (II) we see the dancers in a line, they start to move, seemingly chaotically, but all idiosyncratically connected. The soundtrack of Cambodian folk music soon gives way to the sounds of the jungle and the chirping and squawking of unknown creatures pierces my ears. The dancers’ movements become more synchronised and graceful; one breaks away from the rest of the group and staggers almost drunkenly. A voice speaking in an alien language is heard over the environmental sounds, I cannot understand what it says and I feel a sense of unease.
 
As the already low lights dim further, a naked body enters the stage. The background is now a withered tree root and the contorted figure glistens in the light mimicking this image and writhing and twisting. The dancer takes centre stage and rests in a bright white spotlight. String music fills the auditorium and lifts our spirits. More naked dancers appear and it is both a celebration and an exploration of the human form. The sight is arresting and beautiful, but also unsettling – the dancers’ faces are obscured by shadows and it is hard to tell where one body ends and another begins. The piece ends as the dancers slow to a stop, four spotlights bathe four bodies in blue light and a deep note rings out. The theatre feels dark and eerie, I feel unsettled.
 
The third and final part, Re- (III), turned out to be the most enjoyable for me. This piece attempts to explore China’s vast and rich cultural history, whilst looking forward to the place it holds in the digital age. It starts with the dancers marching back and forth across the stage, their feet pounding out a satisfying rhythm. As in the previous part a dancer breaks away from the group and gracefully sways and lurches to quirky string sounds.
 
The music, by Pulitzer Prizewinner David Lang, is both discordant and rhythmic, exploding with ever more complexity as the piece progresses. The pace slows then quickens up again, the dancers are now dressed in what looks like 80s workout gear - I like it! They are all seemingly dancing to their own song, electronic sounds are introduced to the music and the Playhouse feels alive with the energy on stage. The dancers contort themselves into one final shape as the music fades into the sound of a train moving along the tracks. This ending is poignant, Shen Wei has taken us on a journey, but it has not come to an end; we are all still travelling, moving forward into the future.
 
Re- (I, II, III) / The Triptych
 
Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 September
The Edinburgh Playhouse
 
Book now at eif.co.uk/retriptych
 
The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

Review: One Thousand and One Nights - Parts 1 and 2

Photo: Eoin Carey

By Órla Murray
 
Tim Supple’s One Thousand and One Nights (Alf Layla wa-Layla), a two-part saga through layer upon layer of stories from across the Arab world, was a marvel to behold. With over five hours of skilfully interwoven stories creating a labyrinthine web, the performance was a feat of skill and endurance by the stunningly effective cast.
 
I saw both parts in the same day in an effort (however pathetic) to understand how demanding such a long and intricate performance might be for the nineteen strong cast and six-piece musical ensemble. Time and exertion seemed inconsequential to both the actors and myself as they eagerly jumped between characters and costumes, finding depth and emotion wherever they landed and effortlessly mesmerising the audience.
 
The hypnotic nature of the narrative helps make more believable the central plot. King Shahrayar’s obsessive quest to bed a different virgin every night and kill her the next day is overcome by the enthralling character of Shahrazad, who tells him such compelling stories with nightly cliff-hangers, that he cannot help but postpone her death sentence. This complex switching between stories and characters pleasantly cascaded over the audience, ensuring we were as enthralled by the storytelling as the King, and thus the lengthy performance managed both to retain my attention and to entertain.
 
The narrative and acting were matched with complex staging that managed to seamlessly transform between scenes and locations. The cast's graceful and often erotic movement sequences were supported by clever props and versatile and inventive costume changes. The direction had a beautiful mix of tongue-in-cheek humour and self-awareness, eroticism, and powerful emotional undercurrents, as the stories moved from horrific back-stabbings and tearful monologues to hilarious slapstick comedy routines and sensual dances.
 
The use of sumptuous fabrics and heavy wooden doors as a backdrop, lit with a rich red and blue lighting scheme, ensured the performance transported the audience out of their seats in the Lyceum and into the streets, bazaars and palaces of the Middle East and Asia. The stories and feelings they evoked in both the actors and audience were timeless, and this was sustained by the agelessness of the performance. Intermingling Arabic, French and English, puns and innuendos, traditional and modern costumes, one was never quite sure if this was set in a modern day Egyptian bazaar or a long-forgotten Ottoman harem.
 
Watching Parts 1 and 2 on the same day ensured I enjoyed Alf Layla wa-Layla in all its theatrical glory, with my attention held through the entire performance. I eagerly awaited the next instalment through each 15 minutes interval and the two hour break between parts and at the end felt profoundly sad that the performance was over.
 
Supple’s two-year long casting process was entirely justified by his beguiling ensemble of actors, who were a delight and an honour to watch, This performance truly captured the feel of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival by showcasing not only the best stories but also the best talents from the Arabic speaking world with an immersive and entrancing experience that was my personal highlight of this year’s festival season.
 
One Thousand and One Nights closes at the Royal Lyceum Theatre on Saturday 3 September. Part 1 will be performed at 2pm, followed by Part 2 at 7pm.
 
Book now at eif.co.uk/1001
 
The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

Preview: Contemporary Dance

Photo: cie ea sola

By Emma Caldwell
 

The final week of Festival 2011 sees two contemporary dance productions arrive in Edinburgh - Ea Sola’s Drought and Rain (re-creation 2011) and Shen Wei’s Re- (I, II, III) / The Triptych.
 

Ea Sola is a French Vietnamese choreographer and Drought and Rain explores consciousness, historical memory and the human cost of the Vietnam War. The piece is hard to define as dance because there is little movement, yet it cannot be called theatre because nobody speaks. This is performance art with cultural importance.
 

The piece was first performed in 1995 and featured a cast of elderly women who were once dancers in their youth. Because of the outbreak of war, they had to abandon their art and pick up guns to help fight for their country, only returning to dance when Ea Sola approached them to perform.
 

The incarnation of Drought and Rain performed at the Festival is a recreation of the original work. Many of the performers from the 1995 production are now too elderly to take part and several have passed away. So, although the work will still explore the same themes as the original, it features younger women with different memories of the war. These women did not fight; instead they consoled injured soldiers and sang to them at the front.
 

Drought and Rain promises deep insight into the history and sufferings of Vietnam, and demonstrates that although we all suffer, we can all learn to forgive.
 

Shen Wei’s Re-Triptych is a three-part contemporary dance piece which takes the audience on a journey through Tibet, Cambodia and China. After spending time travelling along the Silk Road, New York-based Chinese choreographer Shen Wei, drew inspiration from his experiences and created works telling stories of spiritual and geographical homecoming.
 

The first part, Re- (I), features traditional Tibetan chants and a giant mandala made of confetti. During the piece the mandala will be slowly and deliberately destroyed by the dancers, resulting in an ever-changing, unique visual spectacle. Festival audiences are offered the chance to become part of this performance by donating to the Confetti Mandala Appeal, which will support not only this production but the Edinburgh International Festival for years to come.
 

Re- (II) was inspired by Cambodia and includes indigenous folk music in its soundtrack. The influence of the country’s surroundings can be seen in the dancers’ movements as they recreate an atmospheric world of twisted knotted banyan trees and lost temples.
 

The final section, Re- (III) recalls Shen Wei’s home country, China, celebrating its vast and rich cultural history as well as looking forward to its place in the 21st-century and the future. This part features a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, with ‘found music’ including recorded voices, folk music and environmental sounds, collected by Shen Wei from his travels. The electronic, contemporary soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment to the dancers’ movements, which fizz with a frenetic energy and perfectly conjure up a buzzing and busy modern-day China.
 

Both of these original contemporary works promise to take us on a journey of discovery, interpreting unique cultures through movement and music and offering audiences a new perspective on the human condition.
 

Drought and Rain (re-creation 2011)
Ea Sola
 

Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 September
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
 

Book now at eif.co.uk/drought
 

Re- (I, II, III) / The Triptych
Shen Wei Dance Arts
 

Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 September
The Edinburgh Playhouse
 

Book now at eif.co.uk/retriptych
 

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.