Expect the funny and the fantastical in this coming-of-age story about a girl whose life-changing journey is charted through the striking contrast between light and shadow.
What’s it all about?
A young girl desperate to grow up awakes from a dream and is transported to a strange land where a team of evil chefs try to turn her into their next meal, a giant hand gives her the head of a dog and she finds love in the arms of a centaur.
Difficult to portray on stage you might think, but not when the coming-of-age story unfolds through a striking combination of shadow and dance theatre.
Who’s in it?
A cast of talented dancers with incredible physical strength alternate between telling the story behind screens and bringing the action directly in front of the audience.
While the intricate and detailed shapes moving behind the screens are an impressive expression of what can be achieved through the manipulation of human limbs, it is only when the dancers emerge from behind the barrier that you can appreciate the physicality of their challenging and energetic performances.
What should I look out for?
Our very own Her Majesty The Queen – a shadow of her former self – discovering her rock ‘n’ roll side on a Pilobolus-branded drum kit. An interesting twist in the story of a dog-girl you might think, but this particular moment occurs in an extended curtain call, which sees the canine-like creature embark on a site-seeing tour of London.
In a nutshell?
An alluring example of physical strength and of the endless possibilities that emerge through the manipulation of dark and light.
What’s being said on Twitter?
@boaden Superb night @Pilobolus #Shadowland sort of Alice In Wonderland meets Athletic Model Guild.
@Sephene Wow. @Pilobolus @Sadlers_Wells Spellbound by Shadow Land! Gorgeous, haunting, moving, triumphant. Absolutely amazing.
Will I like it?
If you’re one of the thousands of people who picked up the phone to vote Attraction the winner of 2013’s Britain’s Got Talent, you’ll no doubt find enjoyment in what Pilobolus Dance Theatre has to offer at the Peacock Theatre over the next couple of weeks. But, unlike the moving tales of war, love and loss that had Amanda Holden in tears on the ITV talent show, this production branches out into the realm of the slightly more far-fetched, so expect the fantastical, the funny and the somewhat bizarre instead!