Tue 21 Jan: Alex Whelan, Joana Dias and Marshall Stay

Alex Whelan Amateur Dramatics

Joana Dias 89

Marshall Stay The Darndest Things

Joana Dias’89 is a heartfelt reclamation of her own story. Her bold voice pierces the air in Portuguese prose and song as she fearlessly takes up space on stage. The journey to finding her father whom she has “never met, heard or hugged” is interwoven with aerial orbits and distorted tape recordings of her mother's voice, enmeshed in a fragmented accompaniment that guides Dias' vulnerable, brazen movements. She lies on the floor playfully inviting us to hear a tape recording of her mother's voice, then skilfully shapeshifts on the beige aerial hoop rising higher and higher above ground; her every bend and motion manifesting a connection to histories that came before her.

The Darndest Things by Marshall Stay of Kill Your Darlings is a vivid exploration into the world of children, illustrated by gleefully disillusioned adult bodies. Their painted red cheeks and black, Elizabethan neck collars add to the pandemonium of youthful curiosity and hilarity. Young voices blend into the silences, twisted score, and stage spotlights, moulding the five dancer's bodies into nostalgic naivety and silly sushi-eating gestures. Stay's direction leaves us questioning our own childhood personalities and is persistent in fusing youthful, jittery movements with mature, wide-eyed enthusiasm. This piece is here to remind us that "having fun is more important".

To close the evening, Alex Wheelan and his brother Matty present a conversational and comedic insight into their world as brothers. There is a predominance of spoken dialogue in Amateur Dramatics, blending live music, boisterous dancing, and lip-syncing in fur coats. It's an entertaining change to the night, with both Wheelan and Matty reflecting on their relationship and childhood whilst lying in bed together and occasionally annoying each other. Table lamps partially light up the stage portraying the intimacy of their shared bedroom. Queerness is analysed in slow, contemplative movements and talk of "How Gay Are You?" Buzzfeed quizzes. Though unpredictable and unconventional, Amateur Dramatics deftly conveys the honesty of brotherly love.

Ayebainemi Abieyuwa Ése

An arresting cocktail of humour and intimacy flowed through this programme of well-constructed and entertaining works. The theatrical journey transformed the opener’s profound sense of loss to the finale’s robust sense of belonging.

A highly personal narrative enriched 89 by Joana Dias, which fused a lament about never meeting her Angolan father, her haunting a capella song and elite skills on the aerial hoop. 89 came in four seamless sections with two bursts of extreme hoop virtuosity following episodes of reflection, the second of which instructed an unseen technician to play audio of Dias’ mother reminiscing about the absent father. Dias is an engaging, multi-talented performer, capable of both lighting up the stage with a flashing smile and expressing the poignancy of loss. Her aerial skills were impressive, and her creative team clearly possesses a fine sense of theatre.

The Darndest Things retained this high quality, putting the thoughts of children into the movement of four adult performers - albeit with rosy-red cheeks and child-like costumes - in a work replete with laugh-out loud moments. This comedy was also suffused by pathos as the children’s voiceovers mulled over issues of climate change, war, old age (one child surmised that it begins at 39) and death. The gestural and expressionist choreography was boldly descriptive, and the diverse lighting effects were impressive.

The programme finished, as it had begun, with a work based on familial relationships, this time between two 20-something gay brothers – one (Matty) a musician, the other (Alex) a dancer who nonetheless dreamt of usurping his brother’s fantasy headlining at Glastonbury. The intimacy of this brotherly love, punctuated by competitive sarcasm, was compelling, even if the action was occasionally slow-moving. Much of the dialogue and guitar-playing was carried out lying on a mattress. Once again, the vocal text was liberally peppered with humour – Matty declared that he only came out as gay during the Brexit vote - before that he had his own ‘“52/48” doubts’!

Graham Watts