Like Rabbits @ The Minerva Theatre, Chichester
It’s a dark night at the end of a long week as we head to the cosy Minerva Theatre to check out the latest offering from Lost Dog whose unique take on contemporary dance pushes the form closer to a true theatrical experience. We’re far from being experts where dance is concerned, but from where I’m standing theatre is theatre and whether it’s dance, opera or drama it’s all about conveying a story.
Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s short story Lappin and Lapinova and devised in collaboration between Lost Dog’s Artistic Director Ben Duke and playwright Lucy Kirkwood, Like Rabbits tells the story of a man and a woman who meet one night, and the relationship that follows, played out in a shared fantasy world where the king of rabbits and queen of hares chase each other.
Ino Riga is an androgynous, elfin dancer, her seductive voice and piercing stare dragging us into her fantasy world and gripping the man she meets. Ben Duke shows a talent for comedy in the early moments, dressed in black and desperately trying to attract the attention of the shimmering, white clad girl he meets.
As they return to her home they mesh in a sensual display, she peels off her clothes to reveal fur and presents him with his own rabbit suit as she guides him into her fantasy domain.
Duke uses music sparingly to convey the shifting mood and emotion and also has his characters speak directly to each other. When the man begins to dress and recites a list of mundane activities while the woman descends further into fantasy you realise there is a wedge here, he is still grounded in his own reality, but his love for and attraction to her draw him ever further in until finally their endless fantasy chase results in capture.
The experience (you feel too drawn in to call this merely a performance) lasts less than an hour but tells the story of these two people perfectly, conveying the nuances of their relationship with perfect clarity.
Lost Dog also previewed their forthcoming work Paradise Lost, but sadly we had to miss this to make our train home. If it makes it’s way to the Soth we’ll be sure to seek it out though!
