Choreographer: Manuel Liñán
Directors: Manuel Liñán and Ernesto Artillo
After the success of Manuel Liñán’s ¡Viva!, there’s a tangible sense of expectation at Sadler’s Wells for his new show playing for just one night as part of London’s Flamenco Festival. In 2022’s ¡Viva!, Liñán and his male troupe of dancers wore stunning dresses with long skirts. Here, in Muerta de Amor, the performers are in half-drag; trousers but with the occasional skirt, jackets but with ruffled shoulder pads. Rather than flamenco dancers, they look like a boyband on the comeback trail.
And they begin by singing, too, into superfluous upright microphones even though we can clearly see that they wear headsets. Regally entering the stage is guest singer Mara Rey, but there is something wrong with her mic, and her voice is distorted. Coming so early into the show, it’s a surprise that they don’t stop, fix the sound issue and then start again. It’s an awkward start to a messy show.
Over the next hour and 45 minutes, played without an interval, the performers in Liñán’s company take turns to show off their singing and dancing skills. There’s also a bit of ballet, as well as an homage to Irish dancing. But there’s no driving narrative to be discerned, despite the programme’s notes that Muerta de Amor is a way for Liñán to ‘discover humanity’s need for connections, the closeness between bodies, the things that drive them and their consequences’. We imagine flamenco to be fiery, dramatic and sexy. But here, it is none of these things.
The seven performers can all sing and dance, and, most impressively, sing and dance at the same time, but their singing is overshadowed by Juan de la Maria, who belts out song after song with real emotion. Joining him in the group of musicians to the side of the stage are Javier Teruel on drums, Victor Guadiana on violin and Francisco Vinuesa on guitar. Often, their music-making is more interesting than the dancing on stage.
It ends with a showcase of Liñán’s remarkable footwork, with the rest of the performers giving him the beat through hand-clapping and foot-stomping. However, even the frequent shouts of “Olé!” do little to raise the temperature.
Reviewed on 2 June 2025
