Theatre of Dreams, Hofesh Shechter Company
Theatre of Dreams, Hofesh Shechter Company © Todd MacDonald
Picture this.
Our young, innocent protagonist is on a case. They are investigating a drug cartel and have an ‘in’ with one of the local dealers who has told them to meet them at a nondescript door down a side alley. You know the type. A peeling metal door you’d presume is a kitchen back entrance or used for refuse. Their ‘in’ looks at them. “Ready?” they ask. The door opens to a wall of noise. Before our hero lies a loud nightclub, where the drinks flow free, inhibitions are abandoned and questionable deals take place in dark corners.
That was what Theatre of Dreams felt like.
I didn’t even realise that the show had started. With the lights still up, a man walked towards the curtain and slipped through the centre, taking us with him into a world of dreams - a place where everything always feels slightly not right but you can’t put your finger on why.
Soon curtains (the pièce de résistance of the work) were darting across the stage, opening and closing to reveal a quick series of dances (side stepping, meditating, legs kicking in a chain, running on the spot while undressing), and at one moment encasing them in a red-lit cage. As our explorer waded deeper into this uncanny, hedonistic land, the raving intensified, as did Shechter’s own score, vibrating the seats in the process. Relief from the intensity came from an on-stage band who slowed things down both for the audience and the dancers (much needed as the work is an hour and a half long with no interval).
Theatre of Dreams, Hofesh Shechter Company © Tom Visser
There is no denying the creative scope and genius of Shechter. As the piece came to a close, the curtains collapsing and earlier motifs returning, I struggled to comprehend how such a complex idea of such grandiose scope could come out of one man’s brain. This was maximalist, theatrical contemporary dance and a complete spectacle.
Unfortunately, for something craving to be as immersive as possible (at one point the dancers leapt off stage to dance with audience members), I struggled to fully lose myself to the dream.
At times the work got stuck in an idea and started to feel repetitive, while in the second half the rave mislaid its nightmarish edge, the dancers seemingly happy to be there instead of dancing as if at gunpoint. Consequently, I was never fully swept up into this world I’d been thrust into.
It was Hofesh’s dream, and we were just observing it.
★★★★
Theatre of Dreams by Hofesh Shechter
Sadler’s Wells, London / 9 October 2024
Press ticket
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