A raw contemporary dance piece which effectively highlights male mental health struggles, but could be even more effective with slight tweaksRating
Good
In the UK, 14 men die by suicide every single day. In fact, if you are male and under 50, the thing most likely to kill you is yourself. 2Faced Dance Company, an all-male contemporary dance company based in Hereford, seek to develop pieces that tell important stories and reach a wide variety of people. Tomorrow draws on the experiences of men living with poor mental health and creates a performance that provides a universal language for the struggles many men go through.
The score is a simple, repetitive electronic piece, which feels modern and never distracts from what is happening on stage. The set is littered with bricks, some in piles, as well as some huge mirrors in unusual and indistinguishable shapes. The start of the piece felt somewhat underwhelming – it is unclear whether there was a technical issue during this particular performance or whether this was intended, but the first performer to enter the stage stood there for a very long time doing nothing. If meant to build tension, it did not do this effectively and felt awkward.
As the remaining company members enter, each performer stands on or beside a pile of bricks. The bricks are used effectively further on in the performance, when performers carry them on their heads and torsos and flail them about frantically, demonstrating the burden of mental health issues, but the beginning does not provide the gripping start that it could.
When the piece gets going, it is raw and immersive. The feats of athleticism performed by the dancers are brilliant and the trust between them for some of the more dangerous lifts is a subtle, but beautiful way of demonstrating how empowering male friendships can be. The performers convey a huge variety of emotions and the utter despair that mental health issues can bring is evident not only through their bodily movements, but their facial expressions too. There are moments when a performer is clinging to another, as if depression is their only friend. These moments are contrasted with when they fight back against the mental health issue – the highs and lows of a mental health journey are clearly depicted.
The most effective moments involve sound; when the dancers scream, the pain and panic is visceral. In the middle of the piece, a tribal style dance, where the men stand in a formation and chant, feels like a moment of celebration for community and friendship. The elation and freedom are palpable, and it feels euphoric.
The somewhat strangely shaped mirrors could be utilised further. There are moments when the dancers are looking at themselves with disgust and pain, but the identity crisis that mental health issues often create could have been drawn upon further.
2Faced Dance have successfully created a production that expresses feelings that many struggle to articulate – indeed, a common feature of depression. It allows the audience to connect to the piece in their own personal way and the importance of an all-male troupe highlighting this issue could not be more necessary.
Choreographer and Director: Tamsin Fitzgerald
Composer: Thomas Haines
Set and Costume Design: Carl Davies
Lighting Design: James Mackenzie
Production Manager: Dave Beever
Rehearsal Director: Sam Buswell
Tomorrow was performed at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds on 2 April as part of a national tour with upcoming shows in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Tewkesbury and Shrewsbury.
