Theatre Reviews

DEEPSTARIA
Sadler’s Wells Theatre
27th Feb to 2nd March 2025

“In Deepstaria – a title inspired by an enigmatic species of jellyfish with a stellar-sounding name – McGregor conjures a highly sensory, meditative pure dance and sound experience which reflects on our profound relationship with the void and our own mortality.  Since the beginning of time humankind has had a fascination with the void. From deep sea to deep space, these dark, mysterious zones ignite both our imagination and our desire to explore our world to its limits. Utilising Vantablack Vision® technology on stage to create unfathomable darkness, McGregor visions an environment that disturbs traditional hierarchies of perception. In this void, acoustic imagery and animative music by Oscar-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker and renowned music producer LEXX create a sonic dreamscape that is continuously recomposed and performed by revolutionary digital audio engine Bronze AI* – thus re-configuring the relationship between live dance and live recorded music in real time.”

Review by Richard Lambert, 2 Stars

Taking inspiration from a species of jelly-fish named Deepstaria might have been where this all started to go wrong. It’s not new to emulate animal’s movements in human dance and often very successfully, take Swan Lake as a premium example, however, dancers as jelly-fish for 75 minutes makes for a very long 75 minutes.

The choreography is full of long-limbed extensions and reach to the extremes of off-balance which for the first half of the piece ends in a fall and roll on the floor. The later sections are a lot more impressive with recoveries and catches between the dancers.

There are some amazing iconic moments created by the lighting. As we’re underwater the overhead LED swing battens with their narrow beam angles create some incredible tableux of blue water with sunlight beaming through and moving around. The laser-effect lighting fixtures do a wonderfully unique rain effect. It’s a lot of atmospheric lighting and a few breaks in the gloom might have been nice. The laser blinders into the audience wasn’t much appreciated with many using their hands to shield their eyes from the glare.

The costumes were probably very expensive although they do look like underwear and homemade chiffon tunics. Adding ear-rings and necklaces that occasionally glint and reflect the lights was a strange choice. Call me old-fashioned but I don’t like to see what appears to be personal jewellery on a dancer unless there’s a reason for it. It’s also another component that could get snagged in the lifts.

All in all the production felt very “samey” throughout and despite the incredible skill and talent of the dancers there was a lack of emotional connection between the dancers that crossed the footlights, similarly between the narrative and the audience. It’s a memorable piece for the imagery but took a long time to say very little.

Photo credit: Ravi Deepres