Boom @ Underbelly Bristo Square
Gen Z performers from Ukraine and the Czech Republic combine for a powerful performance exploring connectivity and freedom
In Boom, two troupes of Gen Z performers from Czech dance company Cirk La Putyka and the Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Art collaborate to create a show centred around connectivity.
Set against an impressive backdrop (a tapestry featuring a large-scale snowball fight), Boom's sound is mixed live. The picture isn’t entirely filled in: some figures are without faces, or they have faces but no features, making the show's opening sequence all the more thought-provoking. The use of alien masks establishes explicit themes of difference – of being alien, or alienated, as opposed to being an alien. Performers put their heads in their hands, their hands over their eyes, and by turns, they pull at the flesh of their arms and legs self-consciously; here, they make a nod to the toxicity of social media culture, to the pressure to reach aesthetic perfection in all things.
Boom’s overarching conceit – connectivity – isn’t limited to the online or offline, though. It extends to blood, and to water, bodies, and borders. Each theme is tackled through stunning displays of flexibility and strength, and when a second group joins the first onstage, we are witness to a meeting — a melding of the two troupes in real time. Slowly, they explore each other's bodies, before allowing themselves to be explored in return.
Using a twin set of microphones, asides bring moments of lightness, brightness, and relief throughout. The troupes outline a number of shared Czech and Ukrainian traditions. They break bread, shower the bread with salt, and feed one another. This scene is particularly pertinent, given the ongoing war in Ukraine. Performers execute trick after brilliant trick and sing in harmony. In a jubilant finale, the attention of the audience is brought to the practicalities of freedom: freedom of movement, of speech, and of expression.
Ultimately, Boom is a celebration of the body – of what it can do alone, and together with other bodies – and a true spectacle.
Boom, Underbelly Bristo Square (McEwan Hall), until 28 Aug (not 22), 3.30pm, £15-19