Falling From Trees @ Zoo Roxy

Despite the rather grim sounding premise, Falling From Trees is a production of joy and energy. The setting is a psychiatric hospital and the piece  ‘explores how a neurological disease can alter your sense of self and relationship to the world and people around you.’ This is shrewd planning however, as skimming along the surface between the patient’s perceptions and the traditional dramatic representation of ‘reality’ frees the show from the requirement to be too literal and gives great scope to evoke different moods, scenes and combinations of relationships/ dancers.

This show is an outstanding of example of all the strands coming together in an exciting and satisfying whole – great music from Peter Broderick and intriguing and visceral video projections by Alice Powell - tied together aptly with Adrienne Hart’s choreography.

The dance sequences themselves range from sinister imprisonments reminiscent of The Madness of King George, to exhilarating celebrations of freedom, and highly emotionally charged duets. The dancers are precise, energetic, fluid, powerful actors, and wonderful to look at.

Whether any given audience member can make a coherent narrative arc from the show is not really the point. Simply free-fall into Neon Production's multi-media blast of emotional impact, intrigue and beauty.