ED2015 4/5 Reviews ED2015 Dance & Physical Theatre Reviews

Camera Obscura (The Secret Dance Club)

By Lucy Diver | Published on Wednesday 12 August 2015

How do you set a lifelong marriage to dance? Ask Lillie Hedderwick Turner and David Layne, whose performances in this show were pitch perfect. The choreography is ghostly, sexy, sad and passionate. The simple but hard-hitting narrative shows an elderly couple remembering their past, as the woman struggles with dementia, which is portrayed with realistic and touching acting. Some of the strongest motifs are drawn from the everyday: she standing on his feet as they dance close and slow. There are some threads left hanging: a child with an unexplained arm cast appears in the danced past but not in the acted present, and the incurable nature of dementia can’t be erased from the ending. I left wanting more, and wanting to be in love.

C, until 18 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Lucy Diver]