Review: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, Sadler's Wells

In a world where people are being displaced every day, with very little news coverage on the seriousness of the situation, Kate Prince imagines a fictional story of a family trying to find a place to call a new home. They live in harmony, until civil war disrupts this existence and devastates the community. They travel shores, making impossible choices in order to survive. Along the way, they lose one another, and have to find agency to find their way on their own. Sat against the backdrop of the music of legendary artist Sting, featuring vocals from other powerhouses, this electric dance piece is a story of love, loss, hope and trust.

Prince has assembled a company that gels; their enthusiasm for the work is contagious. From the very first moment, right to the last, there is an energy that ricochets across the stage. The group demand attention. You watch in awe as they perform movements, tricks and stunts that defy gravity and expectation. Prince's choreography taps into each dancer's raw talents, allowing them moments to shine individually, whilst also coalescing brilliantly as an ensemble. Prince has made a name for themselves for making work that is bright, vibrant and jolting, and this is another example of the magic - not an easy task when you're tackling a story of refugee crisis.

Mix that with underground hip hop and the ballads of a 12-time Grammy Award-winner, and you get a show that really works. Alex Lacamoire's music supervision has mixed and arranged these songs to really fit the mood. Some sound like the classics and others have been altered completely. Highlights include "Don't Stand So Close To Me", "Walking On The Moon" and a double-bill of "Fields of Gold" - one at the beginning, and one at the end. Some scenes are performed by the entire group, and then we have moments of solo and duo.

Ben Stones' set design works well to create different worlds, brilliantly encapsulating a sense of space and entrapment. Andrzej Goulding's video design is impeccably detailed; we see silhouettes of travellers, the floating life jackets at sea, and various pieces of architecture. Natasha Chivers' lighting illuminates the stage, and also the audience - the whole creative composition achieves the mission of conveying the separation that's caused to families suffering across the globe.

Prince and her company have taken huge themes, along with a crisis that is facing the world today, and made it accessible; allowing a conversation to take place on how we collaboratively support, heal, and find stability.

Message In A Bottle at Sadler's Wells until 17 October

Photo: Lynn Theisen

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