Reviews
MaEternal, Northern Stage, Newcastle
DIRECTOR and
choreographer Liv Lorent
describes this
groundbreaking ballet as being
"set in a dreamland with the
Sandmen as the witnesses to
the dreams and nightmares of
women facing both the idea and
reality of pregnancy".
An hypnotic piece of
contemporary dance, it features
a cast of pregnant women and
describes the process from the
early stages of morning
sickness (illustrated by the
clambering of dancers over and
into two toilets), through to the
wonder and sense of climatic
accomplishment that
accompanies the arrival of a
baby.
The journey bears witness to
the entire spectrum of emotions
encountered, as well as the
physical changes wrought by
pregnancy; the impact
registered via the awkward,
intimate movements of the
women which are gradually
woven into more recognisable
beauty and gracefulness.
Indeed it was these private
moments that contributed to the
sense of shared experienced of
pregnancy that left the audience
uplifted and (for some) tearful at
the arrival of the bouncing reallife'
baby at the end.
The shifting soundscape
perfectly announced the
different phases of this strange
voyage, with one jarring, more
vigorous score culminating in
the appearance of crawling,
mechanical babies. The
retreating dancers echoed the
fears inherent in carrying a
child, both to the expectant
mother and her imagining sister.
The message conveyed was
very much that pregnancy and
the giving of life is to be
celebrated. One almost feels
sorry for the men in the
company, the Clockwork
Orange-esque 'Sandmen' who
initially appear as sinister
figures, but gradually transform
into child-like foils deserving of
our sympathy when they are left
as onlookers during the
spectacle of this magical
process.
8:57am Friday 16th May 2008
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