Review: THE BLACK SAINT AND THE SINNER LADY, Barbican Theatre

Charles Mingus originally intended for his iconic 1963 jazz album Black Saint and The Sinner Lady to be accompanied by dancers and, thanks to performance company Clod Ensemble and the Nu Civilisation Orchestra, it becomes the inspiration for a vibrant and inclusive show.

Its hard to imagine nowadays that, at some points in the last century, jazz was, by turns, the most exciting, dangerous and erotic thing you could fill your ears with. Its mark on the musical landscape has faded somewhat but hearing it live is rarely a dull experience especially in the innovative Barbican Theatre setup used for this show.

Rather than the usual arrangement in this space where there is a sizable physical and liminal gap between performers and audience, Clod Ensemble have moved everyone - musicians, audience, dancers - onto the stage where we can sit and watch the band or jump onto the dance floor to swing our hips and move to Mingus’ melodies. This almost by default creates an immersive experience that - even without the smoky fug of tobacco and other substances - transports us back to the heady and exuberant atmosphere of a Sixties jazz club.

Once the band are in full flow, we are invited to sit back and admire or stand up and join in. Compère for the night Chloe Carter encourages us into motion saying "tonight is not about how the performance looks in response to the music but how it makes you feel,” and lithe footwork from the Ballet Rambert crew enlivens the dancefloor. Raised on a circular platform, musical director Peter Edwards first leads the orchestra through three brief and sparky works from Edwards, Romarna Campbell and Clod Ensemble’s Paul Clark. They are a mix of the bouncy and the suave and together serve as a perfect introduction to Mingus’ tonally complex signature work.

After the more modern musical appetisers and the following short interval are out of the way, we settle down to the meat of the matter. Mingus’ epochal album only has four movements but within them is plenty of evidence of a mind working on multiple levels. Clod Ensemble’s Artistic Director Suzy Willson responds to the orchestral output by channelling the beats and arpeggios into expressive choreography. No two listens to Black Sinner are the same; sometimes you’ll pick out the sax or the trumpet, other times you'll be lost in the swirl of silky melodies that intertwine like excited eels. Willson adapts this sensation into dancefloor action which moves from abstract freeform to engaging physical patterns of movement.

Serving as both a testament to the eternal relevance of the eponymous work and as an exquisite live work sitting at the crossroads of music, immersive theatre and dance, this is an exciting way to experience an art form not yet ready to be consigned to history.

More information on Clod Ensemble can be found here.