THE BROWN SUITE

In 1974 I left home and moved to London and last night I was swept back on a wave of joy in the form of dance. As a grammar school boy popular music was dominated by ridiculous prog rock balanced by a touch of Bowie, Reed and Roxy Music. I landed in Chelsea to discover James Brown, Etta James and Sam Cooke and at the same time discovered dance or should I say dancing, those rhythms, those bass lines… they spoke to me.

Earlier this year I had seen a short passage that was the basis of The Brown Suite and knew then this was an unmissable new work. Last night that promise was met.

The Brown Suite is a vibrant explosion of music, movement and light, with a strong and recognisable narrative, the whole delivered by a company of dancers giving everything to make it work. And it works on every level. The choreography is at times frenetic and precisely delivered, at others it is gently erotic and equally effective. The music is well curated, each track poised within this story of a cultural phenomenon, that of dance and the emergence of disco from soul and blues in clubs where music had started to cross racial barriers. Started but still immersed in tensions and boundaries. The Brown Suite looks at it all and looks at it kindly. This is passion delivered through dance, and a dance form the feeds off popular and classical seamlessly.

Moments of passion are balanced by moments of humour too, anger and violence rear their ugly heads but in contrast to so many stories, from Romeo and Juliet to of course West Side Story, this one does not end in tragedy but in harmonious resolve. How refreshing it is to see something play out like this and, going back to my dance and disco days, I am reminded that in the clubs I enjoyed there was no racial tension, no homophobia and seldom any anger on the dance floor (well not often, and usually by crossed lovers), we were immersed in the joy of that amazing music. As was the audience at Theatre Royal Brighton where there was a palpable sense that everyone wanted to join in, I know I did!

The dancers, Lukas Hunt, Leila Wright, Hugo Bragg, Darius Drooh, Monique Jonas, Marie Astrid Mence, Nahaum McLean and Joshi Martina are a finely accomplished team, each one as good as the next, all bringing personal character to their individual roles and at the same time tightly and yet fluidly meshing into the ensemble. Maybelle Laye’s design captures both time and place, Joshie Harriette’s moody lighting has also the vibrancy of disco, sultry episodes and clever evocations of street life and Max Marchmant’s sound design captures the thrill of hearing those first beats that drove us onto the dance floor. Blacbrik company have created a timely masterpiece that  reminded me of how barren and bereft of both heart, and dare I say it, tunes, modern popular music now is.

Andrew Kay

4 November

Theatre Royal Brighton

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