Review: HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY: THEATRE OF DREAMS, Sadler's Wells

As his latest production Theatre Of Dreams amply demonstrates, it’s probably easier to pin strawberry jelly to a wall than to precisely pin down Hofesh Shechter’s exuberant full-on style. 

While some of his ilk express themselves through close interpretations of classical works, by giving well known classics like Sleeping Beauty or Giselle a twist or translating popular films to the stage, the Israeli choreographer always comes up with something from left field. To wit, we have come to expect the unexpected.

Earlier this year, his junior company Shechter II presented For England With Love, a blood-stained love letter to his adopted nation that didn’t hold back in its less than subtle criticisms. Similarly, Theatre of Dreams also wears its concepts on its sleeves with its bold envisioning of the physical and metaphorical aspects of theatre.

Shechter has been in London for 22 years and, over that time, has delivered memorable experiences time after time at Sadler’s Wells where is he is an Associate Artist, transmitting blistering dance and loud music straight at the audience. His iconoclastic output serves in some ways as the antithesis or abrupt response to what can be seen in Covent Garden or the Coliseum, two bastions still arguably hostages to the past.

No-one has ever dared accuse Shechter of pretentious minimalism so it is no surprise to see a baker’s dozen of dancers take to the stage then take off like a fiery rocket. Three musicians switch from one side to the other, filling our ears with jazzy beats and Latin American tunes. Scenes that veer on the chaotic backed by thumpa-thumpa beats explode are interspersed with those played out at a more considered and studied pace.

There’s a definite emphasis on liminality here, especially the border between reality and dreams and real life and the theatrical. The Lynchian and dream-like overtones throughout the 90-minute no-interval running time are due in large part to Tom Visser’s electrifying lighting which blends sharp whites and murky shadows plus the mesmerising costumes from Osnat Kelner. Meanwhile, Shechter’s own music blasts over and through us, rattling us in our chairs. We’re forever kept on our toes, awaiting the next rabbit pull, never knowing whether to expect frenetic motions or something more eerily ominous and calm.

Curtains are used as a constant metaphor on this split stage. They flop back and forth, each time presenting something new from behind them. There’s a peekaboo feel to each time the curtains part, never quite knowing quite what is in store for us. The theatrical metaphors are thicker and faster than an especially stupid sprinter and Shechter isn’t afraid to break the fourth wall: at one point we are invited to join in with the dancers, something the Sadler’s Wells press night audience as a whole felt disinclined to do.

Theatre of Dreams isn’t the best thing he has ever done but, frankly, it doesn’t need to be in order to be more thrilling than much of what is out there right now in London theatres. Some will forever disdain this choreographer with hackneyed claims that he has always been more about style than substance. Others will point to how he doesn’t turn up the visual and aural spectacle all the way to eleven but, rather, starts at eleven and works his way down then back up.

Perhaps he sees himself and his works as something of a middle finger to the more established companies he competes with. Given how much it has developed since Shechter set foot in London, it may be more accurate to see him as the grit in the oyster that has developed the capital’s dance scene into something of a pearl envied around the world.

Theatre of Dreams continues at Sadler’s Well until 12 October

Photo credits: Tom Visser

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