Questo sito non supporta completamente il tuo browser. Ti consigliamo di utilizzare Edge, Chrome, Safari o Firefox.

Mankind

There’s something that performer Robert Clark is struggling to articulate. As he muddles through his opening speech in Charlotte Vincent's first all-male work for Vincent Dance Theatre, “Shut Down,” the enormity of the topic he is trying to comprehend becomes apparent. There’s a problem with the image of masculinity—that of the strong, unemotional, alpha male.

Performance

Vincent Dance Theatre: “Shut Down”

Place

The Place, London, UK, Tuesday 28 & 29, 2017

Words

Rachel Elderkin

Vincent Dance Theatre performing “Shut Down” at the Place. Photograph by Bosie Vincent

subscribe to the latest in dance


“Uncommonly intelligent, substantial coverage.”

Your weekly source for world-class dance reviews, interviews, articles, and more.

Already a paid subscriber? Login

“Shut Down” is the brother piece to Vincent's 2016 work, “Virgin Territory,” a black-humoured take on experiences of women and girls living in an over-sexualised, digitally captured world. Over the next 90 minutes, the company of both adult and young men sketches out the issues surrounding masculine norms, and asserts the responsibility that men have to address them. Speech, rap and spoken word offer a direct expression of their thoughts. When words run out, they fall into movement. A fusion of hip hop and contemporary, their actions have an underlying aggression reinforced through scenarios—like mock fights and gun battles—that play up to the stereotypical masculine image.

Gradually, each member of this company reveals the impact of these stereotypes on their emotions, their sexuality or their interaction with others. One frustrated performer finds his peace in the act of cross dressing, another makes a poignant admittance to his difficult relationship with sex. Such moments are the essence of this work.

Among this puzzle of thoughts, confessions and scenarios “Shut Down” offers a glimpse of the bigger picture, but it is perhaps too large an issue to present a focused outcome. For that reason the thread of the work is not always coherent and a false end hints that the piece could benefit from a more succinct expression of its ideas. Yet here are a group of men talking about change, expressing their emotions and attempting to do so with both sincerity and humour.

Rachel Elderkin


Rachel Elderkin is a freelance dance artist and writer based in London. She is a contributor to The Stage and a member of the UK's Critics' Circle. She has previously written for publications including Fjord Review, Exeunt, British Theatre Guide, londondance.com, the Skinny (Scotland) and LeftLion (Nottingham) where she was Art Editor.

comments

Featured

Dream Come True
REVIEWS | Victoria Looseleaf

Dream Come True

Talk about Gesamtkunstwerk! Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s “SCAT!...The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar,” is just that—a total work of art: operatic in scale, replete with stellar musicians and singers, and the glorious dancers of Urban Bush Women, the troupe that Zollar founded in 1984, is also storytelling at its best. 

Continua a leggere
The Tragedy of Hamlet
REVIEWS | Róisín O'Brien

The Tragedy of Hamlet

Of all of Shakespeare’s plays, “Hamlet” might seem the hardest to adapt into dance. Its long soliloquies and a titular character stymied by indecision do not immediately scream movement potential.

Continua a leggere
Good Subscription Agency