A refreshing take on The Rite of Spring that is fascinatingly bizarre. Summary
Rating
Good
Dewey Dell, an Italian Dance company, brings to the Southbank Centre a new take on Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring. Having reviewed Pina Bausch’s version of The Rite of Spring late last year, my expectations for this production were high.
Plunged into darkness and a foggy haze, a sinister silence lingers amongst the audience as the stage lights settle on an inflated white ball where a creature-like figure resides in a cave. A series of uncomfortable crunching noises unfold as what appears to be a caterpillar births from the ball. Stravinsky’s music erupts, paired with a variety of realistic costumes representative of animals and flowers, as they dance with animalistic brutality, stalking across the stage in a predatory manner. The choreography incorporates high-energy movements across the stage, from breakdancing creatures, caterpillars crawling and flowers spinning, utilising large sheets of material to create mesmerising visuals.
This production is commendable in its ingenious use of props and costumes to create stunning visuals that are unsettling, pairing well with Stravinsky’s sinister music, embodying a nature reborn through sacrifice. Costumes and set design are fabulous, despite being difficult to figure out which animal they are intended to represent, adding an immersive, anxiety-inducing uncanniness with a touch of humour.
However, the production falls short in its second half, where five, dancers dressed in costumes resembling beekeepers, enter the cave in exploration. Carnage unfolds as they turn on one another, staging the famous sacrifice of one of their own. Here, both staging and dancing becomes more confounded. It is hard to differentiate what is occurring and why; the narrative becomes confusing. Whilst it is evident what they are attempting to convey, it does not transfer well on the stage and assumes a high level of inference from its audience. In true Stravinsky style, one member of the audience got up and left at this point, which lends itself to the idea that Dewey Dell is successful in keeping the controversy of this piece alive; it is certainly not a piece that will please all.
It is hard to reimagine a revolutionary take on a piece already rooted in controversy from its origin, but Dewey Dell succeeds in refreshing The Rite of Spring for contemporary audiences. Whilst it could do with some rethinking and a clearer narrative, it is a fascinating and unnerving piece that utilises costumes and props to its benefit.
Original music by Igor Stravinsky
Concept and direction by Agata Castellucci, Teodora Castellucci, Alberto Galluzzi, NastyDen and Francesca Siracusa
Choreography by: Teodora Castellucci
Lighting and stage design by: Vito Matera
Sound by: Demetrio Castellucci
Costume design by: Dewey Dell and Guoda Jaruševičiūtė
Dewey Dell: The Rite of Spring has completed its run at Southbank Centre.