STOMP! (Tour – Salford)
A show called STOMP! cannot be expected to be subtle. Whereas dancers usually flit around in discreet ballet pumps, this the cast pound the stage in whacking great boots. But then classifying this as a dance is not strictly accurate. Only a few such elements – such as tap dancing – appear in this multi-layered show.
Music, specifically percussion, is a vital element. The cast use ‘found’ objects to beat out a rhythm for their performance. A soft shoe shuffle is achieved using the noise made by bristles in brooms scrubbed across the stage and feet scuffling through spilt sand.
The handles of the brooms set a pounding merciless beat that is particularly characteristic of the show. The sheer racket reaches its peak with the climax when the cast bash the hell out of metal dustbins – even at one point striding around the stage with the bins fixed to their feet. There is surprising pastoral music as well when hollow pipes are used to replicate the sound of raindrops.
The visual side is not neglected with a charming sequence, played in darkness, of patterns created by the synchronised use of cigarette lighters.
The acrobatic and juggling abilities of the cast brings a circus element to the show. There is even a clown whose apparently slender frame belies his dance abilities when he offhandedly does the splits and continues as if nothing remarkable has happened.
The brooms are chucked around the stage in an apparently casually way but never once dropped (although to the audible delight of the audience one is slammed down so hard it breaks). Paint pots spin around without once hitting the floor. The cast scale the ramshackle set and play the various pots and pans from which it is made while casually spinning in the air.
Humour is very evident although hardly subtle. There is the suggestive draining of water from sinks and the nudge-nudge differing size of pipes. One cannot help but wonder if a joke about the disruption caused by the cast constantly clearing their throats is a dig noisy audiences.
Perhaps the defining characteristic of STOMP!, that explains its lasting appeal after 23 years, is that creators Luke Creswell and Steve McNicholas are able to capture a playground atmosphere of childlike enthusiasm. The manner in which children use their imagination to create games is very much in the spirit of the show where everyday and discarded objects achieve a magical new use.
A quartet competing to replicate the sound of maracas by rattling matches in their box in increasingly weird ways could be a playground game. A running joke throughout is the audience being encouraged to clap along in the style of ‘ Simon Says’ complete with the prompter sighing when we miss our cue.
This current tour offers value for money by including new routines. The most notable is the coordinated use of supermarket shopping trolleys that concludes with a superb visual punchline. The enthusiasm of the cast is such that the show overruns by a full half hour. No one complains.
STOMP! is at the Lowry until 1 November.
