The transition from a quiet, intimate reflection on identity, to a fluid, playful water inspired trio culminating in a dark, ritualistic finale makes for an outstanding evening with exceptional choreography, striking visuals, and sublime live music.Rating
Unmissable!
Marking Time is the third production in Sadler’s Wells’ Composer Series, a collaboration with leading composers of our time. The three works presented here are all choreographed to compositions by Nico Muhly, an American contemporary classical composer known for his wide-ranging collaborations, including pop musicians. As if that weren’t enough, the pieces are performed live by the Britten Sinfonia. The result is nothing short of breathtaking.
The first piece, Slant, is choreographed by Associate Artist Jules Cunningham, a dancer of some 25 years who founded Jules Cunningham & Company in 2017 to create work that explores gender and the body. The five performers are already onstage as the audience take their seats and notably include two children. They glide across a blindingly white stage, sometimes using props such as a sled-like object. Their groupings occasionally suggest a mixed-identity family, and they play rope games, twisting in and out of each other’s space. A discordant sound recurs throughout; indeed the composition, Drone Pieces, anchors itself on a single note, with the pitch of the drone moving above and below it. The effect is deeply moving, and a hushed reverence fills the auditorium as the movement unfolds. The mixed identities of the performers and their repeated actions, delivered with shifting outcomes, are designed to suggest finding perspective on not fitting in as we move through the world. The lighting is exquisitely simple and the movement clean and pure.
The quiet solemnity is abruptly broken with the next piece: Veins of Water, choreographed by Maud Le Pladec, which is more energetic and humorous by contrast. A trio of three women, their movements sinuous and fluid, embodying the restless flow of water. Their matching costumes: shimmering tops with diagonal sequinned blue veins, seem at times to physically connect them so they become one organism. Their gestures ripple, swell, and dissolve as they descend willingly into the deep: a form of rebirth. The aquamarine lighting is magical, reinforcing the motif of water. The strings of the Britten Sinfonia are particularly powerful, and the audience is re-energised, smiling broadly and leaning in.
A brief interval separates us from the final piece. When the audience returns, they are met with the unnerving sight of a lone performer standing on a stool centre stage in front of the curtain, a noose within easy reach. Silence fills the auditorium for some time: an important and moving punctuation after the earlier works, before he picks up a banjo and begins to play. The curtain then falls away to reveal the full orchestra onstage.
The music, The Only Tune, was inspired by a murder ballad with a twist. Choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan transforms this into a ritualistic event, bringing together eight dancers in macabre costumes and ghostly makeup who, in terms of appearance, are indistinguishable from the musicians. This integration of performance genres creates an extraordinary vision: the energy and otherworldly nature of the piece is mesmerising, supported once again by impeccable lighting.
Sadler’s Wells is known for its world-class performances, but this programme is truly exceptional. The juxtaposition of the three very different compositions with the imaginative voices of the choreographers results in something remarkable. And then there is the live music. The orchestra is sublime, the strings in particular soaring to great heights before sweeping into sonorous lows, each instrument a voice in its own right. A magical evening.
Composed by Nico Mulhy
Choreography by Jules Cunningham, Michael Keegan-Dolan and Maude Le Pladec
Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia
Marking Time has completed its current run.
