A physical theatre dance piece showcasing how it feels to feel like an outsider existing on the fringes of society. A boy dreams of becoming a bird so that he can fly away from the labels he’s been given, free to be himself in a world that doesn’t make sense and free to exist in his own world that no one else seems interested in understanding.

This show marks choreographer Emma Martin’s official London debut and the first show that she has created specifically for young adults and adults alike. The show itself, however (produced by her company United Fall), has been being performed for a number of years. Opening for the first time in Carlow in Ireland in 2019 before travelling around the rest of the country, the rest of the UK and Europe since.

The set here is simple yet striking. A car sits in the centre of a blacked out stage and throughout the show, plastic bag balloons emerge and get sent into the audience and up into the stage rafters. It’s the lighting that really makes the design of the show come alive, from the dim spotlights which create an isolated feel from the second you walk into the theatre, to the range of colourful lights that are emitted from the car throughout the performance. The car contains most of the show's effects from a range of lighting happening inside it, to the headlights flickering and even smoke coming from the bonnet at a few points. It even allows for the projection of paper animation onto the back wall of the stage space. It’s a clever way of storing costume pieces, which are only used in a few scenes and is essentially a lesson in how to do a lot with one cleverly designed set piece.

It must be said that Kevin Coquelard is an exceptional performer with his ability to perform a story through dance whilst also having a deep rooted sense of character, meaning that a wider range of audiences can comprehend and connect with the piece. It is due to this that you don’t have to have any knowledge of dance to understand and enjoy the show; he is able to act to the full without directly acting or saying a word. He portrays the plight of the main character, a very young boy, with sophistication, grace and understanding, creating a really complicated and full bodied protagonist, imbued with a profound depth of feeling. His sense of pace and timing are second to none. He is completely at one with the set, able to clearly mime audio tracks played from the car and change every part of his physicality with the slightest shift in lighting and/or music.

In this sense, we must also give great credit to Martin for her truly stellar direction. She doesn’t hold back in any way whatsoever and really puts Coquelard through his paces, both challenging him to rise to the bar she has set and highlighting his strengths as a diverse performer. She has clearly considered the range of audiences she aspires for the piece to connect with by obviously stating the story, through the use of paper shadow puppetry, and then choosing not to repeat this at any other point in the show, allowing us to really absorb the rest of the dance piece and interpret it from our own lived experiences and perspectives. She allows for moments of childhood joy and gives adults permission to play without making the show childish in any way whatsoever.

It really is a story in celebration of and highlighting the plight of anyone who can’t fit into the mould of society. The balloons become friends and enemies, ideas and overwhelm existing simultaneously in a moment. The range of music and sound effects give voice to those who find connection in stories in whatever form they come in, letting them have permission to share their inner world with us in way that makes sense to them. The parallel between the voice of the boy on various tape recordings and the boy we see in front of us show the disparity between existence and self-perceived existence. We let ourselves feel like children again, limitless, imagining all the possibilities of the world, free and able to live in peace. We feel the agony of watching this beautiful young boy become isolated and desperate to escape from the world when the magic starts to fade and people start expecting him to conform and grow up according to nonsensical rules.

A uniquely rare gem, not to be dismissed as too abstract. A deeply meaningful story, which deserves to become a classic.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Megan O’Neill