© place Material Sequence reviews Daisy Thompson reviews Longfellows Physical Theatre reviews Place 'Resolution' reviews more Azulynn reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

Across and Beyond, starting the evening, remains an enigma – across what? Beyond what? What we see is a slow, loose piece to scratchy-atmospheric music by John Palmer. Four dancers dressed in casual clothes dance on their own, then come together, then form fleeting groups. Movements are repeated throughout the 30-minute work, but they lack definition and pace – for all we know, Across and Beyond could be slow-motion improvisation. Some images have the potential to be striking in a different setting, such as the strangely pecking, Egyptian-like hands of one girl, or the dropped torsos of the dancers looking at us upside down, but the overall structure isn't nearly strong enough to provide variety and meaning. It is a shame, as the dancers Laura Krasnic choreographs on showed something rare – all had fascinating eyes, wonderfully focused, and their bird-like presence could perhaps have taken the piece far beyond what we saw on Thursday.

Daisy Thompson and Ian Garside's Both Perhaps Present proved just as mystifying. I have learnt to be suspicious when the program notes quote a well-known poet, and the choreography did nothing to enhance the extract from T.S. Eliot's Burnt Norton – but then do you call choreography 20 minutes of walking around the stage in silence and crouching into occasional poses? There is no question Daisy Thompson and Ian Garside can breathe as one, and their harmony was probably the result of much work, but as a work of art Both Perhaps Present is a dead end – entirely devoid of expression, boiling down to two dancers parting ways then walking side by side again. The best moment certainly came when Ian Garside ripped his pants dropping into a plié, not once but twice – kudos to him for carrying on and for unexpectedly providing, at last, something for the audience to engage with.

I was beginning to think that the evening was a miss when the Longfellows Physical Theatre Company came along with the absurd, hilarious, enchanting Two Men, a Tent and a Match. Two dancers re-invent camaraderie entangled in a large tent, in turns shelter, parachute, kite and canoe. Their distinct, quirky characters look like Scouts who have grown up too fast and outsized their braces – boots, moustaches, every detail is delightfully thought-out and integrates perfectly with their mime-like, expressive body language. Will Palmer and Thomas Goodwin make fun of this little trip with Mother Nature, dreamily paddling through invisible water or lost in the rain, and their delight in the situation and in the eccentric solidarity born between them is utterly infectious – this is performance (and Resolution!) at its best, conscious of both its strengths and the presence of the audience.