Direction and Choreography: Wayne McGregor
Music: Joel Cadbury
A warning to those going to UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey to see a pas-de-deux avec les skeksis, as this production is only very loosely based on the 1982 cult puppet fantasy film. Instead, it takes a few motifs and themes from the film, of a divided land longing to be made whole, and uses it to present an ecological message.
It does start with an image of a skeksis, the beaky, evil bird-lizard creatures from The Dark Crystal and later, one of the dancers does wear a skeksis-like mask. The mystics are represented by a shaggy, yeti-man with a corn crown. He hangs around with a group of mummies, who sway and stretch in fluid movements before he dies. Perhaps there’s a link to Osiris and also John Barleycorn, both mythical harvest figures who are sacrificed to ensure new growth in springtime.
UniVerse is a piece that invites many interpretations; it produces scene after scene of things that seem to almost represent something on this earth, but also something else at the same time. A forest fire is shown by cavorting, leaping salamander people in flapping pink headdresses and glowing red faces, who alternately leap and scuttle together. There are a tribe of puffer-coated polyps, who at first seem to form a caterpillar, all entwined arms and synchronised floor-slapping, before breaking apart into their own spaces. Three sparkly-suited figures twirl and entwine each other, a suggestion of the orbit of stars in the sky. At one point, a whole town of people in black hoodies has capoeira-like fights before slowly choking as the stage fills with fog. Each type of being is distinctively costumed by Phillip Delamore and Dr Alex Box, and each has its own way of moving.
The performers are sandwiched between two fine-mesh screens. This allows for projections to provide foregrounds as well as backgrounds and it also allows for the projections to obtain a 3D-like effect. Ravi Deepres creates a number of effective designs, which alternately work with the dancers and sometimes overshadow them. An early scene has a 3D fish floating over the dancers as they stretch and grasp like anemones. A huge eyeball grows and grows, overwhelming the dancers before exploding. It obscures the dancing but increases the spectacle.
John Cadbury’s score doesn’t use any on the film’s soundtrack, instead favouring different drones, hums and noises. Occasionally a melody springs up but it’s not allowed to trouble the audience for very long. Towards the end, there’s a drum and bass track, presumably to jolt the audience as it reaches its climax. There are three spoken-word parts delivered by Isaiah Hull, following typical spoken-word cadences and subject matter.
UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey is a total spectacle using the special effects inherent in the digital projection, the costuming and the dancer’s movement to allow the audience to glimpse at a world that is like ours and not. It has a clear message but is not preachy (spoken word elements aside). It tells fragments of a story and allows the audience to arrange the pieces in lots of different ways. The dancing is sometimes lithe, sometimes kinetic and always busy, with lots of little hand flutters as well as large, extended moves. It’s an engaging, interesting piece of theatre.
Runs until 16 March 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
An engaging spectacle
