Anatomy of Fantasy
http://www.festmag.co.uk/reviews/374-anatomy_fantasy
Wednesday 18 August by James
Ellingworth
Show info
Anatomy of Fantasy
Assembly @
George Street 5–29 Aug, not 17, 5:25pm – 6:25pm
Contemporary dance isn't
one of the Fringe's most accessible artforms. It's
unlikely that the elegantly mystifying Anatomy of Fantasy will do much
to alter this,
but
it does at least offer something for the casual observer as well as the
seasoned expert. Russian company Do Theatre concerns itself with a theme
everyone
can relate to - sex. Moving in highly stylised and often challenging fashion
between scenes including a first meeting of lovers, orgasm and pregnancy,
it
can be easy to lose the thread. Anatomy of Fantasy combines the grace
of classical ballet with the innovation of avant-garde dance in a way that
can
be spellbinding. The show is at its best in the higher-tempo sequences. The sex
act itself is viewed through the timeless metaphor of death as three
female
dancers cavort with scythes, combining discliplined
poise and raw violence to great effect. The music and sound effects, produced
live at the side of the stage,
must
rank as some of the best in Edinburgh this August. For anyone searching for a
way into the world of modern dance, Anatomy of Fantasy could be a good
place
to start. While not as esoteric as some works in the genre, the show still
requires the audience to put in considerable effort to appreciate it fully.
Anatomy of Fantasy
Do Theatre
Assembly
@ George Street until Sunday
August 29, 2010
Time
really puts things into perspective. If you come to Do TheatreÕs new show with any
memories or expectations based on their previous creations – the last
one,
Hangman, was seen in Edinburgh in
2007 – youÕll find yourself having to reconsider.
Where
their previous work was chaotic, whimsical and exhilarating,
their latest is thoughtful,
meditative and intense. Where they previously drew their inspiration from
films, fairytales and cabaret, they now turn to slickness and sci-fi.
Where there was wonder,
here is wisdom. This is a good thing – it is about moving in step with
the times. Twenty years after the end of communism, this Russian
company based in Germany
has re-examined the key themes and issues underlying their work now. Liminality is still part of it, but rather than being just
a vehicle
for expression of
complex emotions, their art has become a means of making illuminating
statements about accumulated experience. This piece, still haunted by
some striking mythical
imagery and drenched in deep urges, is elegantly packaged as a series of still
lives and contemporary prints on the theme of four seasons.
And therefore, yes –
it is about the passage of time.
Review
by Duska Radosavljevic
Published
online at
11:27 on Thursday 12 August 2010
http://ed.thestage.co.uk/reviews/759
Three
Weeks
Dance/physical theatre
review
Anatomy Of Fantasy
Do Theatre
A mixture of
physical theatre and contemporary dance, 'Anatomy of Fantasy' is totally
baffling, but violently impressive.
The demanding
physical score provides incredible stage-images, and the tactile choreography
occasionally approaches the sublime,
as when the dancers dive under string and whirl
scythes around. An early sequence of furious rolls, slides and lifts is a
particular highlight,
showcasing some exhilarating ensemble work and liquid
physicality.
Thomas
Martin
Assembly@George Street, 5 - 29 Aug (not 17), 5.25pm, £11.00 -
£13.50, fpp 142
tw rating: 4/5
published: Aug-2010
ANATOMY
OF FANTASY @
THE
ASSEMBLY
Posted by Gareth K Vile,
Sun 22 Aug 2010
Where does the physical end and the desire
begin?
Theatre Do has a close connection to Derevo: the
psychedelic invocation of mental states, shaven heads and menacing atmosphere
mark out
Anatomy of Fantasy as distinctively Russian
physical theatre. They even share the slightly rough attitude
to presentation and eschewing the clear
narrative for evocative sequences. Anatomy is less
coherent and direct than Derevo's Harlekin: the relationships between
the male protagonist,
his female antagonist and the
three, lurking goddesses is vague and mercurial, sliding from erotic to
violent. And where Harlekin is
austere, Anatomy
is almost lush: the stage is
entwined in red thread, the goddesses become pregnant and the video footage
lights the stage with autumnal imagery.
Nevertheless,
death looms throughout: scythes are wielded, savage battles intersperse the
sensual dances,
and the protagonist appears
trapped within a mental cube. Both the body and
fantasy, the physical and the mental are prisons, the hero struggling to
escape under the watchful trio's
disinterested gaze. The capricious women -sometimes benign, sometimes
aggressive - flesh out the male's passionate
writhing. Despite its opaque
meaning, Anatomy strikes at the emotions. Lyrical and sinister, it
transports its characters into a world of shadow, illusion
and allusion. Thoroughly
mysterious it connects the mind's wandering to the body's anguish or ecstasy:
the ghost haunting the machine.
Total Theatre Reviews Summer 2010
Do Theatre
Anatomy of Fantasy
Assembly @ George Street | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
August 2010
Anatomy of Fantasy is a visual and highly
visceral tale of the sacred cycle of life. The piece opens chillingly with
three motionless figures lying
on the ground, each with a blood-red yarn
around her throat, these cords controlled and pulled by an androgynous
puppet-master/mistress of fate.
An arresting image,
which suggests a thread that connects our materialistic body with the spiritual
dimension of delusions, dreams and fantasies.
The clever and well-employed set is a metal
square frame and three panels of screens, behind which figures can lurk and
wait, become concealed
then be revealed, and upon which projected images
and shadows can play. ThereÕs a beautiful live soundscape
by DJ/flamenco dancer/percussionist
Phillipe Fontess, a bald
and black-suited shadowy figure at the side of the performance space whose
staccato foot movements and upright grace contrast
with the lyricism and flow of the trio of three
female dancers. The red wool threads are a recurring motif, creating catsÕ
cradles of conundrums that characters
get bound and caught in, and then scythed and
freed from, suggesting to me Wiccan practice and Korean spiritual traditions.
We watch archetypal
characters: the trio of three women suggest the three
Fates spinning, measuring and cutting of the cord of life – or evoke sirens
and demons –
but I find the choreography a little too
mainstream sexy. They are overseen and controlled by a matriarchal figure: sower of seeds, holder of the reins
and threads of life (Irina Kozlova,
bald, bold and commanding, yet with lighter-than-light feet, fulfils this role
beautifully). Many sequences,
although elegant and gorgeous to watch. I can
appreciate the skill, ideas and proficiency, yet I closed my eyes more than
once in order to be with my own
images, suggested by the engaging and resonant soundscape. Anatomy of Fantasy is a shape-shifting fantasy
full of mythical encounters, of tenderness,
attraction and compulsion, of the passage of time and
continuum of life – beautiful to watch.
Miriam King