Lorna Irvine reviews the latest 'stunning' tour from the acclaimed company.
It is impossible not to have a visceral reaction to Rambert’s new touring production Labyrinth of Love, as it is imaginative, passionate and inspired. It is opening night at Theatre Royal, and the buzz is palpable.
Opener Labyrinth of Love takes its cue from the love poetry and prose of Sappho, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and bizarrely, late actor Elizabeth Taylor. A sense of urgency pervades the piece, as though there is only a finite amount of time. Soprano Sarah Gabriel is integrated with the corps- she flows through the dancers as she sings- no easy feat to pull off- and there is additional microphone vocal work from principal dancer Miguel Altunaga. Marguerite Donlon’s choreography is sculptural, limbs jut out at angles then the dancers collapse onto pillars and the floor as though through the weight of love’s demands. Most thrilling is the voodoo segment, with the soprano voice used as an instrument and melding African ritual dance and European ballet as dancers undulate in one ripple like the snake on the screen behind them.
Visually it is breathtaking, with imagery of elements of fire, water and earth on the screen by artist/designer Mat Collishaw. The costumes by Conor Murphy are amazing too, especially the layered ‘paper’ dress in the middle section which has three dancers underneath to keep it up.
Monolith, created by Tim Rushton, has wonderful Latvian strings from Peteris Vasks and a charcoal rocky set from which the women emerge as though appearing from some primordial place, tentatively, almost crab-like. Storytelling in the dance is fully-formed, as the corps bend, stretch and mirror each other, hoping to reach a state of mutual understanding. They collapse, spinning but landing softly, into the arms of the men, an exercise in the ultimate test of love: trust.
Third piece Elysian Fields seems jarring after the work which preceded it. Based on the sultry southern melodrama of Tennessee Williams and adapted and choreographed by Javier De Frutos, it is nonetheless accessible. Hannah Rudd’s Blanche is wonderful, standing dignified against the tidal wave of darkness. Otis-Cameron Carr and Mbulelo Ndabeni are also outstanding, blurring raw machismo, implied violence and tenderness. Katrina Lindsay’s set is stunning, with massive and contrasting tiny chairs underpinning the theatricality.
A highly distinctive triple bill from the legendary company- Rambert have created a stunningly beautiful work here- here’s to the next 85 years!
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