Deep Dish – Abbey Theatre – Review – Dublin Dance Festival

Austria | Irish Premiere. Presented in association with the Abbey Theatre
Deep Dish – (Chris Haring / Liquid Loft)

Dates – Fri 26 & Sat 27 May 2017

A feast is taking place in the Abbey tonight, a wild and outrageous one that aims to fill the senses. This is the work of choreographer Chris Haring along with French fine artist Michel Blazy. It aims to create a performance that is rich and luxurious, taking you up close and personal to the guests and the food that they eat!

A huge screen fills the back wall of the theatre, onto which projections are shown. These images are taken from a small hand-held camera that the actors move around the space. It goes extremely close to the food, changing them from the everyday into the bizarre. The raw fruit and vegetables that fill the table transforms into an alien landscape, as the camera slowly moves over the surface. The gills of a mushroom or the crown of a pineapple metamorphose into forests and jungles.

We are also shown the actors in the same detail, we see their legs and arms, hear the sounds of their chomps, gnaws and nibbles, their gulps, whoops and gasps. There are moments where the actors talk or lip sync to drunken party banter, both in English, German and other languages (without subtitles). They also dance, moving around the table in coordinated sequences, stuck in loops or moving as if in fast forward.

There is no clear narrative to the piece, it is an evocation of a wild night of food, drink and merriment. This piece draws on many art forms to create a new work. It is not purely a dance piece, and is about much more than movement. At times the images on the screen are utterly sublime. The music and sound design by Andreas Berger goes for the epic, swelling and engulfing the senses. As you would expect, there are times where it feels like too much, but there are moments of calm amongst this storm. It is an engrossing and original performance that is visually stunning.

Choreographer / Director: Chris Haring
Performers: Luke Baio, Stephanie Cumming, Katharina Meves, Anna Maria Nowak
Composition / Sound Design Andreas Berger
Scenography / Light Design Thomas Jelinek
Organic Sculptures & Consulting Michel Blazy
Stage Management Roman Harrer
Theory ​Thomas Edlinger
International Representation Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent
Production Management Marlies Pucher
Co-production ​Tanzquartier Wien and Liquid Loft, in co-operation with Korzo Den Haag and Le Centquatre Paris