LOL (Lots Of Love) @ Zoo Southside

Been poked lately?

Feature by Missy Lorelei | 26 Aug 2011

Look,it's us,Photoshopped.


The lights come up on disparate photographs,projected onto a backdrop,close-up to the point of almost blurring. Using wires as a prop to illustrate our reliance on social networking and our seeming inability to function without it,a a man drags a woman, quite willingly, almost submissively, onto the floor in a kind of tug of lust.

Other dancers emerge,like puppets acting out inane text speak, to the point of verbalising text/e-mail punctuation and emoticons."DOT...DOT...DOT..SAD FACE..." Using characters we all recognise (the sexually confused, the needy and the geeks)this warm and witty piece delightfully skewers the disparity between who we really are, and the glossy more appealing image we present to each other in order to pull.


There's some genuinely lovely writing,as with the hippy chick who's "really into raw meat at the moment", and magic realism.  The six-strong dance troupe weave around each other, their style a head-on collision of ballet and street dance, to a choppy soundtrack which can best be described as Orbital as played by Fisher Price.


Too many highlights here, although Kip Johnson's geek-out solo dance is a joy to behold, and Sally Marie's mini-meltdown is hysterical, in both senses of the word. Towards the end, the show turns in on itself,with the actors running into the audience to take a group shot, and we hear the apparent inner monologue of the actors themselves- a neat little finale to an imaginative and engaging little gem.
Smiley face...

 

Zoo Southside

untilAug 27

http://www.proteindance.co.uk/productions.php