REVIEW: Bach's Solo Cello Suites - Sadler's Wells Theatre, London.

When you ask people in their early twenties whether they want to join you for two hours of Bach played by a single cello, you will discover (as I did) that the majority of them will tell you they suddenly need to wash their hair that evening, or perhaps they need to take the hamster for a walk. It's safe to say, you’ll be going alone. However, Bach6Cellosuiten is truly something you can enjoy alone. I say this, because French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras works utter magic but is let down by the work of the dancers around him.

Bach’s cello suites are rarely performed together, so for Queyras to perform these alone on a fully open stage is something to be congratulated. Sadly, the six dance pieces that accompany the music feel more as though we are watching young children run around in a sports lesson when left to their own devices. Perhaps it’s my lack of dance knowledge, or the fact we were not given an interval, but eventually every dance piece became the exact same set of movements. Jumping, then running around, then repeat. I wasn’t alone in thinking, over the course of the first hour, a few of the people in the aisle seats managed to duck out to their escape. Though I had promised myself, I would stick it out - for the music if nothing else.

Before each suite began, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker would come on in the corner and silently hold up her fingers to tell us what number we were on. Now, this is where they lost me. Before the music could even start, two dancers would come on and draw an incomplete five-pointed star in brightly coloured electrical tape on the stage. Why? Even after a full night’s sleep and enough time to think about it the morning after, I still cannot tell you. The stars seemed to hold no meaning that I could see, and neither did they hold a use during the performance that I noticed.

Over all, it’s safe to say that the piece left me scratching my head. There were portions with no music at all where dancers still flung themselves across the stage like over enthusiastic teenagers at a rave, and in turn there were long portions of simply Queyras in the dark with his cello. And though two hours has never felt so long, there were still parts where the dancers managed to capture the piece perfectly. Then again, it’s all up to interpretation, right?

Reviewer - Aidan Bungey
on - 24/4/19