Following their popular production 'Plan B For Utopia', 'The North' is a spectacularly intricate three-person show by the Joan Clevillé Dance Company. Following the journey of a mostly anonymous man named John, played by John Kendall, he is pursued by and engages with two shape-shifting beings, played by Eve Ganneau and Solène Weinachter.
The show swings between cacophony and harmony, playing with our perception of peace and turbulence. The theme of being lost is echoed by the exaggeratedly economic set, composed of a very small, plastic fir tree, a couple of chairs and a large white backdrop. The backdrop allowed brilliant shadow play as the performers were re-scaled in their shadow form, lit by varying red, green, warm and cold lights. The approach to communication landed exactly between physical and non-physical, as neither were more influential to my understanding of the production – a decision which challenged the usual theatre narrative, but harnessed the show to its dance form.
For what was explained by the body, language evaded: there was no telling when, where and who we were with on this journey. The shape-shifters were, despite their ability to shift into other shapes, still to an extent, formless. Voice, instead, took a musical form; whether that was an extended quasi-throat-singing overture or a gentle folk song – again, the company is focused on experiential performance.
Joan Clevillé are an exciting company whose great attention to the relationship between sound and movement pays off.
Reviewer - Jessica Wiehler
on - 18/3/19
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