Donald Hutera reveals the impulses behind Motionhouse’s exciting new production
On a frigid mid-January afternoon hard graft is melding with wordless theatrical magic in the faded grandeur of Leamington Spa’s Town Hall. This is where the locally-based dance-circus company Motionhouse is putting together its latest touring production. Hidden, as the show is called, will receive its world premiere at Warwick Arts Centre in early February and there is still much to be done.
Founded in 1988 by executive director Louise Richards and artistic director Kevin Finnan, Motionhouse has persevered thanks to the pair’s knack for concocting performances that are both popular and innovative, creatively risky yet accessible to a wide audience. The company operates year-round, and that includes the dancers. “We’re one of the UK’s few full-time dance companies,” Finnan claims, adding, “but if I want this language then I need dancers who have full-time jobs.”
He’s talking physical language, of course. Company members specialise in a daredevil combination of kinetically charged contemporary dance and thrilling acrobatics redolent of the big top. Finnan estimates that Motionhouse has 9 to 11 pieces of work available at any time for both the UK or international marketplace. The repertory embraces both indoor shows like Hidden, fashioned for traditional venues, as well as outdoor spectacles involving, for example, 650 drones (for a 2023 event in Liverpool).
The company’s gamut of small to large scale commercial work and art-driven projects is impressive. “We use such a mixture of skills that the dancers are virtually irreplaceable,” Finnan says. His directorial hand is anything but dictatorial. This requires plenty of input from the performers. “I never tell them how to do this, that or the other. They work out what they think they can do with their abilities, exploring and experimenting. Then they’ll show me, and if it’s physically sustainable we’ll do it.”
Whether commissioned or generated in-house, Motionhouse’s productions are often at the service of a theme and at least some semblance of narrative. Hidden certainly fits that bill. “I’ve personally felt over the last couple of years that the world has darkened,” Finnan explains, “and if you have the opportunity you should talk about it and not ignore it. The thing that is hidden is that some of what is the very best of us comes about in moments of true and profound darkness.”
Finnan mentions armed conflict, fires and floods – all relevant to the world we occupy now. “In those moments,” he continues, “people work and come together to survive. That’s when you see the driving force of what humanity is. It will always be at its best when you can react to those moments around you. Out of adversity and trauma come friendship, support and positivity. Life is richer when the highs and the lows are shared.”
Mulling over these ideas, Finnan discarded many possible scenarios before reaching the heart of Hidden. “I didn’t want to just portray darkness,” he says, “but also the light of who we can be.” And so he simplified things both for himself and audiences. “I realised that in this work we needed to see us going ever faster until we’re suddenly hit with something that makes us stop and take stock.”
Lasting 120 minutes, including one interval, the show is conceived in three parts. Initially we will witness lives being led at speed. There is a breakdown, followed by a slow, deep search for the recovery and unity that Finnan refers to as ‘light’.
After watching extended chunks of Hidden in the rehearsal studio, it’s clear that one of the most remarkable ways in which the Motionhouse team has realised Finnan’s stripped-backed scenario will likely reside in the show’s complex, immaculately timed marriage of bodies and design. The agility and commitment of the seven dancers is extraordinary, even heroic and at times breath-catching. “It’s very real for me,” long-time company member Beth Pattison says at the end of that day’s rehearsal. “At no point am I acting it. I’m living it. It’s not pretend.”
Supple, strong yet sensitive and imbued with stamina and trust, she and her equally dedicated colleagues climb and bound, swing and slide with, over and around each other. The set, meanwhile, is a mutable clutch of platforms and scaffolding that they must continually use and reconfigure. Apart from being an integral influence on the movement, these closely choreographed objects also serve as projection surfaces for a host of digital imagery. The net result is pretty much guaranteed to be by turns dynamic, dramatic and dazzling.
“I’m hoping that Hidden will be moving and ultimately positive,” Finnan sums up his creative intentions. “Spectacle will broaden your audience. I could bash out a whole lot of tricks, laying it all out like a checkerboard and ticking boxes. But it’s much better if it means something. The power of dance is that you can let people make associations between what we do and their own experiences. I want to connect to as many people as possible. I want the audience to identify with and care about the people onstage, and to give them the opportunity to go on an emotional journey with us.”
Hidden premieres at Warwick Arts Centre 6-9 February 2025, then tours extensively around the UK and Europe. Further information and booking details are available here.
Donald Hutera has been writing, broadcasting and lecturing widely about dance, theatre and the arts for The Times, The Stage and countless other publications in the UK and internationally since 1977. He is also a dramaturg, mentor, erstwhile performance curator, occasional PR and, since 2018, a devising member of both the Olivier-nominated Rhiannon Faith Company and Posh Club*Dance Club. In 2024 he helped create the installation performance Act 3 for Christopher Matthews/formed view (premiere in Elixir festival, Sadler’s Wells) and, working with the award-winning choreographer Susan Kempster, the short dance solo I’m not crying (there’s just something in my eye).
