This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour was invited to see Nobody by Birmingham Hippodrome.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
Review: Motionhouse Nobody at Birmingham Hippodrome
Conceived and Directed by Kevin Finnan, Choreography by Kevin Finnan and the original cast.
The first of what is sure to be many projects reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nobody is a two-part production which combines circus movements with dance as seven dancers arrive at the Hippodrome main stage.
A huge box fills the stage and projected on both it and the backdrop is a cityscape which changes through the first half from daytime to night, we zoom into locations and back out from them.
The performers appear firstly as deconstructed crows with the sounds of crows woven into the vibrant soundtrack. The box starts off as a house but quickly transforms into other buildings before revealing itself to be a metal framed scaffold type cage, repeating the theme of deconstruction.
Seeing these strong performers utilise each others strength and skills was very impressive as they threw themselves around the cage and then threw the cage around. The lighting was stark in places and the tone of the first half was angry in parts and then became much softer in the second half.
Lots of us had to face who we really were in the pandemic as we had our lives removed from us, I was lucky enough to have streaming media a sofa and places to go for walks myself, this made me think about those things again. The is a moment where we see a pub garden on a busy night with people in facemasks standing and some looking towards us. A reminder of the “real” world which became our reality for a while.
This is a dance company that is as comfortable outside as it does in a large theatre and knowing that Motionhouse will be back very soon to kickstart the Birmingham 2022 Festival connected to the Commonwealth Games is pretty exciting.
A bold, energetic and at times reflective production, Nobody is currently on tour around the UK until October 2022. See the tour details here: motionhouse.co.uk/tour-dates. Wondrous Stories launches Birmingham 2022 Festival from 17th to 20th March. Details here: birmingham2022.com/festival. Discover more about Birmingham Hippodrome here: birminghamhippodrome.com.
