Review: Theatre of Dreams (Sadler's Wells Theatre)

Review by Stephen Gilchrist

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hofesh Shechter OBE is an interesting man. He is an Israeli-born choreographer and composer, who, with his company of dancers, is based in London. Over the past few years, he has developed an enviable reputation internationally and has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Tony nomination for choreographing Bartlet Sher’s 2016 Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. I can quite understand how for some people, for whom contemporary dance is anathema, might treat his work with disdain.

On the other hand, I consider Theatre of Dreams, his latest opus from 2024, a work of considerable brilliance. And if you ask me what it is about, I would respond,“Nothing. Or Everything”. This is a symphony of mood in which much of the best aspects of theatre coalesce together to produce a mesmerising, ninety-minuteentertainment which had the audience on its feet halfway through, joyfully dancing in their seats to a Mexican rhythm at the invitation of the company, and at the curtain call, with a fully deserved standing ovation.

The work is essentially abstract and an emotive event which, as with its title, is dream-like and filmic. The entire piece is performed to a wall of pulsating sound, sometimes to raucous and discordandt music played live by a trio and occasionally to gentle vocals, with Shechter also as composer. Much of the work is dancedin a smoky, dusky, and even nightmarish half-light, or in pools of light, for which Tom Visser is the designer and often lights the stsage in red.

At the centre of the brilliant conception is Shechter’s use of curtains, with the set design by Shechter and his collaborator Niall Black. He uses a series of tabs (stage curtains) behind the front curtain so that an impression is created that the stage actually becomes several, the tabs being opened and closed in drapes of differing widths, sometimes for only a few seconds to reveal dancers posing, dancing solo, or in ensemble as if in a snapshot. The tabs close and a moment later open again to show a completely different image. The curtainsand blackouts are also choreographed with such fine cues that your breath away is taken away. The stage itself is an integral part of the performance and the imagery which Shechter has conjured.

The entire effect of these 'snapshots' is to present to the audience with a choregraphed version of 'stream of consciousness,' a narrative technique that attempts to mimic the natural, often illogical flow of a character's thoughts and feelings. Theatre of Dreams ceratinly exemplifies the concepts of free association and sensory impressions. There are few 'characters' in this montage of dance, where the company is the protagonist, and it is the company's psychological state that is being examined.

With its company of twelve dancers, this is truly an ensemble production, and they are all standouts. The entire troupe dance from beginning toe end, with snippets of pas de deux, in smaller and larger clusters,but no one is allowed to dominate the stage over the entire corps. The breadth of the choreography is breathtaking. There are hints of folk dance, hip hop, Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham and even Isadora Duncan,but the execution of this project is authentically original. The dancers entangle their bodies in chaos, love, often wild but are also tightly regimented. The sound drives it forward.

The dancers bend and angle their limbs, their torsos, indeed their very breath, in a shape-shifting, dreamlike state, running, arms and legs akimbo. The energy which empowers them in their own performance is transmitted, as if by osmosis, to the audience. Shechter's choreography exemplifies the best of contemporary dance, blending elements of multiple dance styles, and and allowing his dancers to express emotionality through movements and breath, and to explore the mind-body connection whilst evoking emotion in the audience.

Despite the multiplicity of styles, there is a purity about the dance demonstated in this show, a wordless communication demanding a deep, physical engagement from both the performer and the audience and even, on occation, a breaking free from the ego, and the release of the self into the moment, as seen in some ecstatic and trance dances. It is truly hypnotic.

And what does it all mean? Is there a message in there somewhere? Shechter himself describes the piece a ‘rabbit hole’ and I can see why. That is a trope which refers to getting deep into something or ending up somewhere strange. And strange is definitely where you end up in Theatre of Dreams. I think it was the writer Anthony Burgess who originated the truncated phrase ‘All Human Life is Here’ before it was hijacked by the News of the World as its banner motto. And if you want to see something metaphysical in this work rather than accepting it a purely conceptual work, that would be equally valid. There is the range of human feeling - joy, fear, threat, awe, disgust, and anxiety. It is all in Theatre of Dreams, in spades. This is more than a dance show. It is a sensory theatrical experience of genius in concept, and enthralling in its execution. 

Hofesh Schecter Company – Theatre of Dreams plays at Sadler’s Wells Theatre until October 18^th

For tickets and information visit https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/hofesh-shechter-company-theatre-of-dreams/

Photos by Tom Visser