REVIEW: Songs of the Bulbul, Newcastle Theatre Royal
Dance spectacle opens Masala Festival
Excited chatter filled the auditorium ahead of this one-off performance, as befits the colour and life inherent in Gem Arts’ annual Masala Festival, of which this was the opening event.
But a groan of remorse came between the scene-setting recorded introduction and the mesmerising dance solo to come.
We were told that the bulbul, in Persian mythology, is a nightingale whose singing becomes ever more beautiful in captivity as it is first exposed to and then deprived of light, finally having its eyes removed to induce its last exquisite performance, which I suppose you could call a lament.
That King Lear moment of seeming cruelty tempered the mood somewhat. But whatever you took from what came later – the soaring of the soul to some sort of nirvana or the fact of its earthbound imprisonment – there was no denying its extraordinary performative qualities.
One figure can seem lost on a stage the size of the Theatre Royal’s but Aakash Odedra filled it, aided by Rushil Ranjan’s soaring, filmic score, a few dramatic props – hanging rods like branches or the bars of a cage plus a crescent of lamps, stage left – and dramatic lighting.
Then there were the blood red petals which fluttered in clouds from above and were swept up and sent whirling by the plumage represented by the dancer’s swirling white robe.
At the beginning, and after the darkness of that introduction, the light fell on a shapeless pile of white fabric beneath the suspended rods and a scattering of petals.
Gradually it resolved itself into a man who barely stopped moving from that point onwards – driven, it seemed, by the soundtrack and Rani Khanam’s mesmerising choreography.
It was a dance performance of extraordinary power and poise, but of delicacy too. With head, hands and feet, the single dancer evoked the mythical bird, using every inch of a stage lit to enhance every moment.
Nearly an hour of almost ceaseless movement ended with a final exhalation as the bird’s soul drifted up like vapour in a beam of light.
The Aakash Odedra Company, based in Leicester, was co-founded in 2011 by Aakash Odedra and Anand Bhatt who now runs Dance City in Newcastle.
Songs of the Bulbul is to be performed again later this month at Sadler’s Wells East in London and at the Venice Biennale. Newcastle, through the efforts and reputation of Gateshead-based Gem Arts, finds itself in good company.
Check the Masala Festival website for upcoming attractions.