Tomorrow dance review: A chance for release
Exploring the unspoken stories men carry in 2Faced’s piece about accessing emotions
Carrying the weight of responsibility is a metaphor we all understand, and most of us have felt. For some, the burden weighs more heavily than others, especially those who feel unable to share the load by talking about it. And despite advances in social thinking, men are still far less likely to discuss their problems than women. In Tomorrow, before anyone appears, the set design already does some of the heavy lifting. Piles of blocks litter the stage (some high, some low), leaving us to question what they might represent. And when the six male dancers eventually climb onto them, it’s clear some are coping, some are ready to topple.
The blocks go on to play a fundamental part in this latest show from Hereford-based, all-male company 2Faced Dance. Using muscular strength, and various body parts, to carry the stones, the dancers display not just physical dexterity but emotional depth. Because not only are they silently sharing their own struggles, but those of men whose experience fed into the piece. Tomorrow started life as a series of conversations between artistic director Tamsin Fitzgerald, company dancers, and men accessing support from the local branch of mental health charity MIND. Often difficult and uncomfortable, their talks explored the unspoken stories men carry, the fear of vulnerability, and moments when the weight of expectation threatens to crush them.
All of this and more is evident in the performance. Intensity, insecurity, bravery, anger, fragility, support: they’re all here in every lift and carry, each angry cry or plaintive plea. Across 65 minutes of energy-packed movement, we see daily challenges writ large as these young men attempt to access their emotions through something other than violence. During a particularly engaging scene (both choreographically and in delivery), they form a tight swarm, a safety-in-numbers pack pulsating with the same beat. But even here, what feels like a fun night out clubbing, has shades of the Two Minutes Hate in George Orwell’s 1984, their one chance for release amidst all the tension.
Tomorrow, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Thursday 30 April, then touring until Tuesday 23 June; picture: Rosie Redwood.