Hofesh Shecter Company: Double Murder

Hofesh Shecter and his amazing company are back and what could be a more exciting and welcome start to the Brighton Festival 2022 programme.

In this double bill the word Murder should be attached to the idea of “kill to get a ticket” (which of course should not be taken literally but does actually in itself illustrate the message given here). This is once again truly unmissable stuff.

But to start the evening a joyously short romp of a piece set to Offenbach’s can-can, it was a celebration of live theatre in all it’s forms and put smiles on faces before the start of the much darker Clowns

Clowns, a percussion led soundtrack drives the dance forward in an exploration of violence and our reaction to it. The juxtaposition of Shecter’s signature folk inspired movement with acts of violence, murder, assassination and execution is dark. Guns, knives, strangulation, ropes, disembowelment… it’s all there and there again and again. The initial vision is impactful, shocking, but as the dance is repeatedly interrupted by more and more death the effect clearly illustrates our increasing acceptance of our vile and violent world where murder is commonplace. This is Shecter at his darkest but Shecter is not afraid of the dark. And he’s not afraid of the dark in another sense. Darkness and stillness form a major part of the way he works visually, gloomy scenes, snaps to black, flashes of light, the lighting design is extraordinarily good, so good that I for one would be tempted to watch the work of this designer without the dancers.

In the second half we get a new work, The Fix. It’s almost an antidote to the harsh brutality of Clowns, a passionate piece that explores intimacy and vulnerability and then ultimately embraces the audience, physically in an act of inclusivity that is really moving.

The evening ends with a feast of choreographed curtain calls that have the entire room on their feet for a well earned ovation.

Andrew Kay

Brighton Dome Concert Hall

7 May

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