PUSH

Using dance, poetry, storytelling, song, video and graphics Curious Seed explore how we react to key moments in our lives in their new production P U S H. The multimedia performance utilises the intimate and clinical setting of Platform in Easterhouse to create an isolated community, separated from time and place, a microcosmic experiment of human reactions. Expressive and expertly controlled, the languid swirlings of the first half give such a powerfully conveyed sense of community, friendship and joy that I find myself smiling.  As the performance continues the ebullient mood rapidly disintegrates into a dystopian display of individual anguish and disappointment.  The dancers writhe in an insect-like crawl and seem constrained to floor level, unable to regain their former splendour and autonomy of movement. The set comes alive when the dominant feature, the wall, bursts into being via a projection of brickwork that sweeps from angle to precipitous angle, effectively creating an increase in pace, panic and drama as the performers push their contorted frames against it, moving in time with each alteration of perspective. After this the production begins to falter and my concentration wavers throughout the latter half. The strength of meaning seems to unravel as the performance continues; the end is over-extended in its series of costume changes and tableaux. The strength of P U S H relies upon its ability to create an emotional reaction to the initial grace and later disintegration of this timeless community, leaving a melancholy sense of loss in its ending.