'Play Without Words' reviews recent Matthew Bournereviews more Madoldbat reviews

I've just got in from seeing Matthew Bourne's latest production, "Play Without Words" with his new company New Adventures. It's on at the Lyttelton Theatre until the middle of September and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who fancies something different.

It's very hard to describe, but I'll give it a go, although the title is a very good guide (surprisingly enough). Basically, the story is told by actor dancers (with an equal emphasis on both skills), and is set in Chelsea 1965, and anyone familiar with the novel/film "The Servant" will appreciate the basic set up: wealthy young guy (Anthony) buys new flat, hires a servant Prentice (who brings a maid in), shows the place off to his beautiful fiancee Glenda, and invites a few friends round for a party. He seems to have everything and really to be in control of his life - but is he? Slowly things start to unravel and spin more and more out of kilter.

I don't want to go into details and spoil the story, but it's wonderfully realised on stage in a very interesting way. For a start, there are three actors playing Anthony - not changing from performance to performance as you might expect, but all three doing each performance, very often on stage together. Similarly, there are three Prentices, three Glendas, and two maids. After the initial surprise, this is not as confusing as you might think, as the costumes are carefully designed to visually link the multiple characters together. What it does mean is that you can double or treble the impressions and details of each character's feelings/emotions/reactions etc., concentrating each characterisation very effectively into the minimum amount of time, allowing the story to flow. For example, there's a great dressing/undressing sequence. One Anthony is slowly undressed by one Prentice, whilst at the same time another Anthony is slowly dressed by another Prentice, neatly encapsulating the impression that Prentice is expected to do virtually everything for Anthony from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. (It's also very funny!)

Anyway, I loved it, and can't wait to get back from holiday in 10 day's time to go and see it again, as I'm sure various things will have changed (it's that sort of show). Ballet it's not, but I think it's a truly intriguing piece of dance theatre which I enjoyed a great deal. It's refreshing to see something which requires you to concentrate fully, and doesn't spoon-feed you - much more rewarding I find.