England on Fire, the latest production from the BalletBoyz, is their most ambitious to date, with 40 creatives including composers, musicians, choreographers and dancers. Taking inspiration from the book of the same name by Stephen Ellcock and Mat Osman, it’s a rather bleak view with snapshots – past, present and future – of this green and pleasant land. In spite of reading the programme from cover to cover, it was difficult to glean exactly what was going on all the time.
At an hour and 20 minutes, no interval, focus was essential. Certainly, it had some interesting concepts: an eclectic mix of music, a live orchestra on stage; a live post-punk band, Gag Salon; the lovely voice of Kami Thompson who is part of the folk-rock duo The Rails, and a voice-over who one assumes was quoting directly from the book. At times it was impossible to hear the words because the sound was so amplified.
Costumes by Katherine Watt were spectacularly imaginative in a weird and wondrous way, from the animal, avian and antlered headdresses in the druid-like opening sequence, to the colourful puffball skirts and satin shirts of the latter stages of the piece. Lighting by the brilliant Andrew Ellis was equally inventive though some of the scenes that were intentionally dark and gloomy, made identifying expressions hard.
The evening was split into ten chapters with various composers and choreographers allocated (by directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt) different segments. Choreographers included Ola Ince, Holly Blakey, Russell Maliphant, Vidya Patel, Lucy Bennett, Edd Arnold (who also danced) Shelley Maxwell and Thick & Tight. The composers were Joe Zeitlin, Gwilym Gold, Cassie Kinoshi, Charlotte Harding, Mukul, Keaton Henson and the aforementioned Gag Salon. This is where it came unstuck. I mistakenly thought the choreographic and musical styles would be in evidence, and yet with a few exceptional moments, it was much of the same. The music fared better but some of it was not exactly harmonious.
The piece centres on the journey of a girl through life (soulful Artemis Stamouli) and her various encounters and experiences. Much of the ensemble work was the most eye-catching, though the duets, trios and solos all had some memorable passages. There was a section of film which included a mix of politicians: Thatcher, Blair, May and even Neil Kinnock falling over on Brighton Beach; TV stars Ant and Dec, Jeremy Clarkson and a glimpse of Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army which one supposes was a nod to the power of the media, the fickle nature of our society or how idiosyncratic the English are.
There were some entertaining moments: the voice announced that “owing to lack of interest, tomorrow has been cancelled” which brought some mirth to the audience. Three dancers in shaggy body suits which jingled with bells, rough and tumbled and were very funny, looking and sounding vaguely like Morris dancing yetis. One phrase was repeated in the final chapter, Arcadia: “England is a hothouse flower and all the glass is cracked.” The closing stages did not give rise to hopefulness – rather melancholy. Projections of a white-washed dancer who I think was representing a white butterfly caught in a jar, finally no longer fluttering, was surely death.
As one would expect, the dancers were excellent – an entirely suitable collection of strong individuals. Fantastic to see the likes of Oxana Panchenko still holding her own and always a pleasure to have the statuesque Harry Alexander gracing the stage, this time briefly in a pair of pointe shoes.
You have to give Nunn and Trevitt credit for doing for this project with full-on gusto. Taking huge risks and, I would imagine, a great deal of people and time management, must have been a challenge, yet though it was full of quirks and great ideas, the messages weren’t clear. I wonder if it was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth – the fire heating the pot just wasn't hot enough.
