Mesmerising performances keep up the wow factor!

Nov 27 2008 by Val Javin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A YEAR ago I was wowed by an aerial theatre company called Ockham’s Razor who take their name from a medieval philosopher whose main message appears to have been – keep it simple.

And this trio of performers appear to do just that. But they do it with considerable artistry and a cutting edge precision that neatly packages that extraordinary name.

Their two pieces last night began with a new addition to their repertoire, called for reasons that become clear, Arc. It didn’t disappoint.

We meet the performers as they lie suspended high above the ground on an aluminium raft. There is the sound of a plane’s engine, the crackle of an untuned radio and the call of a fiddle. Later we hear the sonorous notes of a piano, the rumbling of a storm and the constant motion of the sea.

Cast adrift, we see first the bonds between the survivors, but then the feelings of separation of being the outsider, the one alone.

There is laughter one moment as the audience enjoy watching the group explore their surroundings, the playfulness between the trio, the getting to know you games familiar among children. But then come the gasps as resentment, anger and perhaps fear intervene and when that trio looks likely to become a couple, relationships hang by a simple grip of the wrist.

It is enthralling, mesmerising stuff, with a beautifully told story underpinned by an elemental soundtrack from Derek Nisbet.

The company’s second contribution was familiar from last year’s visit but no less welcome for that. In Memento Mori, we have an intimate dance of death performed on a suspended metal frame.

Two figures, she wrapped in red velvet, he in the skeletal suit of Holbein’s woodcuts, dancing each of us to our grave.

There’s a balletic quality about this pairing of a seemingly calm yet vibrant figure beguiled by the arms of a spectre who will eventually hold her in a fatal embrace.

The companion piece to all of that came from the slight but remarkable agile figure of Finnish aerial artist Ilona Jäntti, in a piece called Piiri

It’s almost an exploration of the skills of circus and dance as she works her magic with juggling rings and a large, suspended hoop.

As a performer, Ilona offers the innocence of the sad faced clown and, with some hint of a narrative and a touch more of the burlesque style only hinted at here, this could have been a richly engaging performance.