'Sea of Troubles' reviews Edur in reviews Cooper in reviews recent ENB reviews more Lynette H reviews

Matz Skoog, ENB’s Artistic Director, has commissioned several works from young British choreographers already: this programme continues this theme with work from company dancers. The second part of the programme featured Adam Cooper as a guest artist in a revival of the MacMillan rarity, Sea of Troubles. Overall, a great chance to see a number of impressive dancers at close quarters in the intimate setting of the Linbury.

The programme listing (which was free, so I shouldn’t complain) doesn’t tell us anything much about the background of the six pieces featured here: so we don’t know if this is the first attempt at choreography by the authors, or the product of greater experience. It would be nice to know. For example, the first item, by Yosvani Ramos was a strictly classical work. It was set on himself and Erina Takahashi with a small corps de ballet of four girls. It was a classical piece in minature with pas de deux, variations, a series of fouttees for Takahashi and showpiece pirouettes for Ramos. It was nicely structured: I wondered if this was the first work he had put together or not. Part of the perplexity was that this was so out of tune with the type of work that these sort of programmes generally produce. It was very popular with the audience. As someone observed in the interval it was hardly groundbreaking: mind you a lot the sub-Forsythe aggressive wrenching of limbs that thinks its cutting edge and avant garde isn’t ground breaking either, it’s just repeating a different formula. Ramos looked very good in this (as you would hope), but Takahashi was a pleasant surprise for me: not a dancer I have warmed to much in larger venues where she can seem remote and uninvolved, here she seemed warm, happy and relaxed, and having a terrific time.

Thomas Edur appeared next, wearing just a pair of underpants, in a short solo he had made for himself. This involved a good deal of anguish and contortion, while he lighting from the side emphasized every muscle in his body. Adam Cooper fans may discover a new idol. As dance it didn’t do much for me, but there’s no doubt Edur delivers this with feeling.

Tribal was the next work, another substantial piece of fifteen minutes or so with a cast of eight (five women, three men) by Juanjo Arques. The cast were strikingly costumed rather like an Amazonian tribe, and the music was stridently percussive. It was delivered with speed and energy, and maintained its invention over the full length of the piece, which not all the works on the bill did. Again it would be interesting to know if this was a first attempt or not – I think I would like to see more work by him, because it seemed carefully thought through.

Yat Sen Change produced a short duet for him and Simone Young to Latin-flavoured music. This was another one of those battle between the sexes duets: although it was done with charm, the idea has been worked over many times before and there wasn’t anything fresh or memorable about this particular variation on the theme.

The Latin theme continued with the next work, set by Clara Barbera to music by Piazolla. It features three guys in white suits with hats (Juanjo Arques, Juan Rodrigues, Fernando Bufala) and one girl in red, with the typical havoc that a girl in red usually creates, especially when she takes off her skirt. Good humoured and fun if not particularly demanding.

The final ENB work And Finally…. was from Daniel Jones, featuring three couples. It was strongly cast, including Edur and Oaks, and also Yat Sen Chang and Jan-Erik Wikstrom. It was a treat to see them all at close quarters.

Sea of Troubles is quite a different kettle of fish. I was particularly interested to see this after the detailed discussion of it that had taken place at the MacMillan conference last year, which included some filmed excerpts of the original production. MacMillan made this for a group of independent dancers in 1988 and it is quite unlike his other work. It is for a cast of six: it does not employ the language of classical ballet (not a pointe shoe in sight), nor does it follow any straightforward narrative trajectory. It is a reflection on the central themes of Hamlet. Gertrude, Hamlet, Claudius, Orphelia and the Ghost all appear, but the characters are denoted purely by the possession of the appropriate prop – the character wearing the shroud is the ghost, the girl with the daisy chain is Orphelia. The roles are rotated through the cast. This was a popular device in fringe theatre at the time – I recall a version of the Duchess of Malfi played under the same terms. It demands a lot of concentration from the audience. Despite the prominence given to Adam Cooper’s name, it has to be a team performance to work.

You could read the work as taking place inside Hamlets head as it concentrates on his obsessions – the pairing of his mother Gertrude with her husband’s brother and murderer. MacMillan gets some things queasily right: guilt was something he seemed to understand. The image of Gertrude and Claudius trying to get on with their lives while all the time sitting on top of the dead body of Hamlet’s father is a neat one. Yet MacMillan, characteristically, takes on too much – you really do need to have a good grasp of the Hamlet story here or you are lost.

The work didn’t quite have the impact it might, though I think a quirk of he production was at fault. In the film shown at the MacMillan conference, and in the discussions there, each short scene ended in a total blackout. It was like seeing a scene lit by flashes of lightning. However, in the production in the Linbury, there was barely any discernable difference in the light levels between scenes. The bodies got up and exited the stage. This diminished the dramatic effect quite considerably for me.

It is still a powerful and concentrated work, performed with commitment by the cast. I particularly liked the deranged, broken Orphelia with her hair down, though I’m not sure which of Sarah McIlroy, Elisa Celis or Lisa Probert it was. Cooper is predictably intense. The scale of the work is particularly suited to the 400-seat Linbury. I only wish the theatre was used more for dance. My vote would be for a programme of short works possibly from the 1930s when British ballet was being created on tiny stages. How about Lilac Garden, Checkmate, Les Rendevous ?