Cento Cose @ Zoo

If silence is golden, then the award-winning Italian theatre collective, Compagnia della Quarta, are choosing to have none of it.

As the cast electrifyingly change shape to match the sounds of plucked violin strings and techo-beats, one is reminded of Cento Cose or ‘the hundred things’ we do every day, even though they stand between who we would like to be and what we are forced to do.

Like scratching an insatiable itch or scrubbing an irremovable stain, analogous to reaching for a prizeless prize, our battle to conform to society and its pressures, is an endless one.

But what would happen, exactly, if we lived in a society that knew no bounds? The answer lies in frenzied, energetic moves that remind us that we should be saying "yes" to being ourselves. The story really does lie in the eyes of its beholders.

Possessed by what society "won’t" let you do, frantic, yet still eyes, represent the pace of a controlling world that refuses to blink and is a strangling and stressful battle to keep up with.

As the dancers mould their faces like masks, you are reminded that wanting to be more than what you are is a form of self-harm, and to try to ‘be’ all that society expects, is a head-banging impossibility.

In a world where the "habit does not make the monk," happiness, quite simply, lies in letting go of superficiality. As quotes from ‘I like you just the way you are,’ to "what matters is being oneself," from "what matters is what is," to "to be, counts," dart through the show, you realise that the power to say no to being somebody else is right there in your hands.

Stomping their feet to a conformed world oppressed by the media, and the perceptions of others, the trio of dancers have put the ‘P’ into physical theatre passionately.

Dancing not to be caught, but to be free, Compagnia della Quarta have managed to pass on the idea that anything is possible through their bare, natural and limitless talent.

Seizing the moment within movement, this is physical theatre at its very best.