The Armed Man is directed by Jan Bolwell and Assistant Director, Sue Leask, and is choreographed by Bolwell. It is performed to the composition of the same name by Karl Jenkins, which was composed for Britain’s Millennium celebrations in 2000. The beautiful recording is by the Welsh National Opera and four Welsh choirs, conducted by the composer.

The Mass incorporates universal themes of war and peace, with Latin texts from the Christian Mass, diverse musical styles, multi-cultural words and eclectic texts.  These include Adhaan, the Muslim Call to Prayer, Rudyard Kipling’s Hymn before Action, with its terrible last line: “Lord grant us strength to die!” Angry Flames, a poem by Togi Sankichi, a Hiroshima survivor who later died of radiation exposure, and an excerpt from the sixth century Sanskrit epic poemMahabharata.

There is also spoken text written by Rachel McAlpine with narration by Annie Ruth and Errol Anderson.

The composition was originally dedicated to the victims of the war in Kosovo.

The Crows Feet Dance Collective are a group of trained and untrained dancers aged from 35-74. The Company which was formed by Bolwell, in 1999. Here, the Company dancers are supplemented by five male students from Whitireia Polytechnic Performing Arts, who add great strength and realism to the work. The choreography for the men’s section is by Paora Taurima.

The structure which follows that of the Mass, is in twelve parts, and begins with a mother’s farewell to her son who has just enlisted. We follow the army marching on its way to battle, and are lead through the horrors of war itself, to the aftermath of destruction and death, with the guilt and grief of its survivors, to the climax which reflects the hope that peace might prevail over war.

Bolwell’s choreography cleverly utilises the performers’ individual skills.  Soloists Caroline McKeefry, Sue Leask and particularly, Tania Kopytko dance well and with conviction. Passages are repeated with momentum yet never monotonously. The groupings are strong and varied, and the width of the Whitireia stage, which can be a trap for unwary players, is used with skill.

Overall the work is slightly too long, particularly the closing celebratory passages which could be tightened to greater effect.

The use of the male students from Whitireia is particularly well thought out. The strength of their performance adds a necessary and completely different dynamic to the work as a whole.  

All the dancers are totally focussed and dance with sensitivity and harmony. This is by far the best work that I have seen from Crows Feet.

The set design by Jennifer Holdaway, of a single war memorial is simple and very effective. At the closing sequence, the names of the fallen are projected on to it, which then segues into an image of the thousands of crosses of those killed in action. 

Coming as it does in the sequence of the recent World War One commemorations, The Armed Man is a most effective coda to the futility of this war and all wars.

The words of two poets resonate in our minds. Those of Japanese poet Togi Sankichi shimmer with a grim warning:

“…Crawling out, wreathed in fire, countless human beings on all fours in a heap of embers,
That erupt and subside, hair rent, rigid in death, there smoulders a curse.”

And finally, those of Tennyson:

“…Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.” 

 

If only…

 

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