'L'Animal A L'Esquena' reviews recent Mal Pelo reviews more Ann Williams reviews

'L'Animal A L'Esquena' opens in silence, with Muñoz, a slender boyish figure in black trousers and black shirt bending, stretching, almost writhing as if in pain against what looks like a slatted blind when, the 'slatted blind' is unexpectedly winched down to become a sturdy dance floor where Muñoz suddenly breaks out into a rock-fuelled dance number and proves herself such a wonderful mover that it's a disappointment when she has to stop because the music has stopped. Thereafter a fellow in a woolly hat and carrying a medium-sized tree (Ramis) appears and begins to speak (it's worth mentioning here that the programme credits the texts to 'Jean Cocteau/Mal Pelo'). He speaks drolly while tottering around with the tree. 'This tree looks as if it's been through a war' he observes 'but trees can't feel war like people'.

Then things get serious - or you may think seriously comic and dark. She slides her hand down his body and grasps his testicles, he walks, crippled, to the microphone and quacks into it like a wounded duck (later, he returns the compliment by sliding his hand up her thighs into her crotch, but she doesn't seem to take offence). The story here is probably of a tottering but surviving marriage, and the telling is both vivid and effective.

Credit must go to the set designer, François Delarozier, for his brilliant concept, which included a backdrop curtain being 'painted' from behind as if by a huge brush - it caused a satisfied murmur from the audience So did the moment when 'windows' flap open in the upraised wooden stage to reveal a line of small screens showing unnamed and unexplained faces. Odd, but a very satisfactory piece of the jigsaw that makes up Mal Perlo

Mal Pelo fall somewhere between circus artists and dancers, but the fall is graceful; both peformers are gifted dancers. The real point of the company is its stunning theatricality: there's a unforgettable moment when the two performers rise slowly from the stage on a winged bicycle, lit gloriously by Ramón Rey, to a pounding rock score ( the programme is eclectic in it's musical choices, using the works of Steve Noble/Louis Prima/Henry Purcell, a lineup roughly comparable to Madness/Tony Bennett/Monteverde) .

This is a seriously fun show and I'm only sorry that by the time you read this, it will be over - the programme doesn't state whether it will be touring, but if you spot it, catch it - it is more than worth a viewing, despite the fact that it lasts a scant 60 minutes.