Stomp

Theatre Royal, Glasgow
3 - 7 November

Finding music in the monotony, Stomp is a fast-paced and pounding celebration of the rhythms of life.

Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas have devised a gleefully resourceful piece of dance theatre. Using an extensive range of brooms, gas lighters and kitchen sinks, the eight piece group transform everyday objects into percussion instruments, inspired by their high-energy routines. These primal rhythms, a strange mix of Brazilian samba and African tribal dance, enlist each individual in a rich, worldwide orchestra.

The production’s skits are sharp and narrative driven, changing in tone regularly enough to maintain freshness between scenes. The fool is here, diffusing the tension of some of the show’s more intense moments, and the audience is frequently challenge to follow the increasingly complex rhythms by clapping their hands and stamping their feet.

Stomp’s design is gritty, an internationally ambiguous, two-tiered frame of corrugated iron littered with street signs and water drums patiently waiting to become percussion. Reminiscent of the Broadway Rent design, its bric-a-brac backdrop is full of a mysterious promise which drives the narrative.

Tightly choreographed and wittily produced, Stomp is one of the most sophisticated pieces of dance theatre which Scottish theatre has seen this year.

- by Scott Purvis