‘Stairway to the Stars’ was the opening track in this dance work devised, choreographed and designed by Eliza Sanders with lighting by Owen McCarthy. The music was not credited in the programme but was mostly commercial and accessible sung tracks where the words dominated. Consequently I found it difficult not to make connections between the lyrics and the movements and to let the dance do the ‘ speaking’.

As we entered we were given the choice to immerse ourselves by lying onstage on pristine white mats and joining the performance or being a traditional viewpoint audience. Four dancers – Tyler Carney, Sophie Gargan, Jayden Burt and Laura Beanland-Stephens – using simple punctuated body isolations over pedestrian steps moved into the gaps formed by those lying prone.  Those onstage became  immersed  in the experience in a different way by being observed by both the cast and the audience. This worked at times and gave rise to some effective and strong images, discomfort and humour, but it was also a distraction as the audience became more intrigued by the onstage audience than the cast themselves.

There was a Ziegfeld Follies feel but without the immaculate precision essential to this style and era. The four calico-clad girls  responded to the space, the songs and to some chosen quotes from We are all Flesh by JM Coetzee ( best known for Disgrace) and Berlinde De Bruyckere. These were listed in the programme and were quite complex philosophical comments that somehow did not always sit with the rather gratuitous ‘bump and grind’ movements that recurred. The sexually suggestive phrases needed some clarity of purpose and although unison is a very strong choreographic tool it needed precision to deliver its strength of statement.

There were some lovely images, particularly the floating whiteness that emanated from upended umbrellas. The fragility of human nature and the uncertainty of our relationships and place in the world was beautifully captured by the use of bursting, breaking, tossing floating, swirling feathers that invaded every space and made breathing not an involuntary bodily function for a time.

The element of the unexpected was used well, the dynamics between the four dancers  and their use  of the Dome space at Bats were excellent.  Where did we go Wrong? brought dramatically set writhing, birthing bodies against a frenetically abandoned solo by Laura Beanland-Stephens. Sophie Gargan is a theatrical tour de force and her solo as the future worlds’ burdens and miseries were heaped upon her was powerful and disturbing. Eliza Sanders is a promising creative energy and Knitting While Sleeping clearly responded to her vision and had pace and purpose but I found myself constantly asking why ? and what ? it was saying. More attention to context and concept would take this work forward and fully realise its strengths. Find the calm before and between the storms? Yet it was visceral and compelling and a perfect Fringe show with significantly more polish and intriguing audience participation than most.

My one gripe, and this always bugs me- the publicity and programme images did not connect to the actual show. An idea that got lost in translation perhaps? I was waiting for the knitting and the meat, though I guess in some way we got both, just not as I was expecting.. As the final song,’Ferry Me Cross the Mersey’ played, the ending was abrupt and unresolved – endings often are.

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