Collaborator circus review: Spectacular swansong
Lucy Ribchester discovers soul and fire in Collaborator, a wonderful circus show which shines a light on both a close relationship and inspirational art
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It’s startling to think that the age at which most people start hitting their career prime is the age at which dancers and circus artists start to think about retiring. Thankfully it’s becoming more common to see older dancers perform, but this doesn’t negate the fact that physical professions place a toll on the body, as well as increasing the risk of injuries the older you get. As they reached their 40s, married couple Charlotte Mooney and Alex Harvey, who together lead circus company Ockham’s Razor, had been making work for over two decades. When they began segueing into directing rather than performing, a friend asked them if they had retired. They hadn’t, at least not officially. But this propelled them to consider creating a swansong show. Collaborator is the result.
The piece comes weighted with a level of poignance, therefore, before it has even begun. Twenty years is a long time to trust, test and rely on another person’s body. As Mooney says in her introduction, they never intended to make work together; circus couples are notorious nightmares in the rehearsal room. But how lucky that they did, and Collaborator stands as an ode to the grit, teamwork, banality, intimacy and love that goes into mastering both relationships and creative disciplines.
There is a level of unfiltered candour from the outset. Mooney and Harvey welcome us into the theatre, stand around, chat, rig the stage themselves. They wear neutral-coloured casual clothes. In some circus shows this kind of thing can feel confected. Here it just feels honest. They have nothing to prove and everything to celebrate. But the candour also extends to the less glamorous parts of being a circus couple. In chapters titled ‘Most Days’, ‘The Dark Days’ or ‘The Days Where You Just Have To Keep Going’, they demonstrate in dance drills the drawn-out dedication of circus practise. Some of these sections feel slightly laborious but so is conquering a skill and navigating a marriage.
There are spectacular uses of swinging pendulums, illustrating different kinds of momentum and energy, and Holly Khan’s score is gorgeously textured, from Brazilian drumbeats to filmic swooning. But the real soul and fire of the show comes when Mooney and Harvey duet on doubles trapeze in a custom-built rig. From their cats-cradle legs to the way they nest and balance off each other, there is circus magic in this extraordinarily special bond.
Collaborator, Pleasance EICC, until 22 August, 5pm; picture: Jamie Dennis.