Edinburgh Fringe dance and physical theatre reviews: Hamlet by New York Circus Project + more

Assembly Roxy (Venue 139) until 24 August

There’s Shakespearean theatre, there’s circus, and then there’s this - which appears to be a genre all of its own.

Quite unlike anything you’re likely to have seen before (and that’s saying something at the Fringe), this production of Hamlet has to be watched through a very particular lens. Only the most pivotal points of Shakespeare’s text have made the cut, and to begin with, the acrobatic manoeuvres feel strangely tagged on.

Yet if you go along with it, this highly entertaining show pays you back handsomely. It would be easy for a circus troupe to value strength and agility over acting prowess, but the key roles here have been superbly cast.

Maddox Morfit-Tighe is wholly believable as the grieving, vengeful Hamlet. Despite the brevity of his words, each of his relationships have depth and meaning, whether it’s with his mother, girlfriend or uncle (all three of whom have equal gravitas).

Maleah Rendon as Ophelia also has a wonderful physicality, put to excellent use during her beautifully choreographed death scene, featuring real water.

If some of the acrobatic moments and dance routines feel ever so slightly shoe-horned in, others glide perfectly into the narrative. The ghost of Hamlet’s late father is portrayed through strong and elegant aerial work, as befits a late king, while the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (already ripe for physical comedy) are suitably played for laughs.

Throughout the cast, each acrobatic leap and lift is perfectly executed with confidence and skill, whether they’re building human towers or flipping on the spot.

Perhaps what impresses most, however, is that this newly created genre manages to hold both elements in high regard. The circus technique has been hard-won by everyone on stage, and the drama inherent in Shakespeare’s words is treated with the respect it deserves.

Kelly Apter

Taiwan Season: Trace of Belief ★★★★

Dance Base (Venue 22) until 24 August

This captivating new show from Taiwan’s Chun Dance is the performance equivalent of a bedtime app. Not that it sends you to sleep, far from it, but there is a hypnotic flow to it that settles the mind and calms the spirit.

Grouped together as one flock, dressed in pale blue tie-dye, six dancers sway slowly from side to side as if touched by a gentle breeze. Eyes focused into the distance, they draw us in from the first quiet breath, and don’t set us back down until the final moment.

Yet despite this delicacy of movement, an inner strength resonates from inside each of them. Partly conveyed through their strong, supple movement, which is never an inch out of place. But also coming from somewhere deep within, and helping to bring Hsieh Yi-Chun’s vision to life.

This up-and-coming Taiwanese choreographer has few international credits to her name, but works such as this will surely change that. Yi-Chun took inspiration for Trace of Belief from her own childhood, where memories of temple processions and community rituals helped formulate her view of life.

The push and pull between past and present is felt throughout the piece. When the world is moving at such a fast pace, how do we hold onto tradition? And in an increasingly secular society, what place does faith have?

All of this is handled with an abstract, contemporary dance sensibility, without ever spoon-feeding the audience.

Traditional brushes clasped between the teeth, and brief bursts of bold athletic movement capture the element of ritual. But by the end, we’ve come full circle and a poignant moment in which one dancer strips down to her underwear, is a tender illustration of laying our souls bare.

Kelly Apter

Voyeur / Samba & Love ★★★★

Dance Base (Venue 22) until 24 August

This dynamic double bill from Brazil’s São José dos Campos Dance Company is an hour of slick, engaging contemporary dance that never lets the pace drop for a single second.

Relentless (in a good way) in her capacity to drive the dancers from one highly-charged moment to the next, choreographer Lili de Grammont takes us inside two aspects of modern life.

In Voyeur, we find a group of people seated in a circle, while a relationship plays out in the middle. The couple at the centre work through a myriad of sensual, romantic, sometimes brittle connections, all under the watchful gaze of strangers.

As a metaphor for the way so many lives, both famous and otherwise, are carried out under the glare of social media, it hits the spot. During one routine, two hand-held flashlights are pointed at the central performers, giving them no means of escape from the harsh intrusion. But these moments of coupledom are just one aspect of Voyeur - de Grammont keeps the whole ensemble (all dressed in funkily-cut sharp suits) busy with energised synchronised choreography.

Barely able to draw breath during a short costume change, the same talented dancers give their all once again in Samba & Love, another astute look into life’s less attractive corners.

This time, de Grammont turns her lens on the all-too prevalent nature of burnout, and the wellness industry that feeds off it. Here, the rhythmic soundtrack echoes the frenetic busyness of modern life, while voiceovers deliver the words of wisdom we’re all well versed in (“listen to your body”).

Pulling an inflatable sofa onto the stage, three dancers take part in a panel discussion about how to look after ourselves. But, somewhat inevitably, they - like most of us - are soon drawn back into the chaos.

Kelly Apter

DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN ★★★

Assembly Roxy (Venue 139) until 10 August

DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN begins with what feels like a bedtime story, about a paper star maker and firework man who vie for control over the decoration of the night sky.

It’s an appropriate start for a show concerned with the spectacular possibilities of vertical space, as a series of beautifully choreographed aerial pole vignettes unfold with the setting of the sun and draw to a close as it once again rises.

The sheer physical prowess of the two performers, Donna Carnow and Gina Alm, could be spectacle enough, but DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN leans into the dreamlike sensibility of its liminal time-space, using clever lighting design and costuming to build a world of nights out and mornings after. Pulses of bright strobe fragment the dancers’ movements, while tinselled dresses whip through the air with the same gravity defying determination of their wearers.

This montage-like structure adds a dreamy quality to the work, but it also punctuates its narrative flow: each vignette is arresting but the emotional throughline that connects them remains somewhat muted.

The result is a performance that is beautiful but not quite euphoric, a spectacle that remains largely just that. Still, when the spectacle is this impressive, it's well worth a look.

Anahit Behrooz

Formosa Viva ★★★

Paradise @ Augustine’s (Venue 152) until 9 August

Through 12 musical pieces, Formosa Viva Dance Theater encompasses Taiwan’s 500-year history, highlighting the transition from martial law under the Republic of China’s governance to democracy, and other key cultural influences and advances.

Two screens survey a stage, which the company uses to effect. A pillar, which is part of the architecture of the space, is involved in the piece as the group of six dancers form a ring around it. Dressed in white, their bodies eddy. They could be water turning into a wave, perhaps they are the foam at its crest.

In addition to dance and movement, the company uses their voices, chanting in harmony. Sequences, particularly at the opening, go on for too long without any variation or explanation, and when significant events such as martial law are introduced, expositional writing scrolls across the screens too quickly to appreciate the milestones narrated.

As the piece ends, moments of peace (themes of gender equality and cultural diversity come to the fore) are vivid, and offer a marked shift from earlier scenes of brutality, overseen by the animated figure of a fairy-tale crone, brandishing puppet strings. Formosa Viva promises a thought-provoking 50 minutes, on a very crucial subject matter.

Josephine Balfour-Oatts

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