Choreographers: Morgann Runacre-Temple and Jessica Wright
We’re all familiar with the style of political interview with a senior politician that underpins Jess & Morgs’ latest dance piece, DEEPFAKE. The politician and interviewer sit in a panelled state room, giving the impression of it being an intimate, if formal, one-on-one. In reality, both sides have people working behind the scenes, from spin doctors to TV producers, invisibly guiding and steering the interview’s flow.
That’s the starting point for the piece, as Kennedy Muntanga’s Prime Minister sits down opposite Rebecca Bassett-Graham’s interviewer, Katie. A green-screen studio takes up most of the stage, where the performers sit amid ornate, classical surroundings that exist only on the screen projected above. As the interview progresses, dancers in green full-body suits move furniture, props and even the principals around, influencing events on screen while remaining “invisible”.
Well, sort of. The nature of theatrical stage lighting means that the green dancers’ haloed silhouettes still show up as ghostly images on screen. But the show leans into that: Muntanga and Bassett-Graham’s projections are both slightly translucent, emphasising that they are just one part of the digital concoction. As the piece progresses and Muntanga’s character, who is being pressed upon rumours of a scandal, finds his story fragmenting, the live image of the prime minister is joined by pre-recorded, solid copies, as if the man being interviewed is not quite as strong as the controversy.
The dancers lip-sync to a dialogue track from actors Claire Goose and Habib Nasib, adding context and dollops of humour as the prime minister digs himself ever deeper. The actual “scandal” starts off as rather tame – he disappeared for a total of 24 minutes during a state dinner at Buckingham Palace – but as the journalist probes, more details emerge. Rumours that he reappeared with his flies undone and paint on his shoes expand into allegations that he was seen running naked from the palace, and then into a video of him seemingly in a compromising position.
The denial of this video’s veracity gives DEEPFAKE its name, but the moniker also reflects the depth of the work in evidence. In one breathtaking sequence, Muntanga and Bassett-Graham dance on different areas of the stage, interacting with live projected versions of each other as they disappear through, behind and around prop towers. Later, the green-suited dancers help move the choreography, which starts in a contemporary style, into a more balletic frame that the principals later join.
The satirical commentary is evident throughout. The sparring between a TV interviewer and a difficult subject is sometimes referred to as a dance, so seeing that battle expressed through Jess & Morgs’s creation feels like a perfect match of form to function. But it also shows how a politician’s downfall is more inevitable not because of the original crime, but because of the cover-up. As the true story of what the prime minister did, or didn’t, do at Buckingham Palace emerges, he seals his own fate because of the myriad shifting stories that drive the dance.
Jess and Morgs pack more narrative, comedy and political satire into the hour of dance than many a stage play could manage in twice the time. Technically, it’s a marvel, proving that integrating video technology on stage is so much more than projecting actors on large screens. But the tech only works because the creative force driving the whole piece has clarity and purpose, with something to say about politics, TV journalism, how they intertwine, and how nothing is as it seems in either world.
Brilliantly bonkers in the best way, DEEPFAKE has to be seen to be believed. And even then, it makes one question whether one’s eyes can, in fact, deceive you.
Runs until 3 October 2026
