'Until The Lions' is a very stylised and thoughtful piece of contemporary choreography. Lasting just over one hour without a break, Akram Khan's re-telling of a story from the Mahabhrata through the eyes of the female protagonist in that story, Amba, makes for compelling viewing.
Performed at The Roundhouse in London, in a collaboration with Sadler's Wells this circualr stage is designed to look like a large sawn tree strump, upon which the action is played out and around. This simple design is extremely effective, especially when it starts to brak away and split volcano-like at a heightened moment in the narrative. Subtle lighting changes and smoke, as well as spoken word and vocals, with authentic-sounding music beats played live around the atage on percussion instruments, all helped to draw the onlooker in to this dark tale of strength, ritual, individuality, justice, death, liberty, and revenge. The imagery is very strong and the production values extremely high. No stone is left unturned and nothing is left to chance or been overlooked. Even the studied and precise movements of the performers are a heady mix of realism and traditional Indian.
My only problem with this performance was that try as I might, I didn't understand the story. Perhaps I was trying too hard to intellectualise and contextualise, trying to shoehorn the onstage happenings into my own world experiences. That is not to say I didn't find the experience thrilling and rewarding, I did.. but I would have greatly benefitted from a progranme, a brief history / synopsis, - which sadly was not available online when watching, but would undoubtedly have been when presented live.
It's a very visceral, tribalistic and atmospheric piece which does transport you into this world of half-fantasy as two poweerful women fight it out with each other for supremacy against a backdrop of Indian culture. This is dance-theatre at its very best.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 31/8/20
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