Review: The Life and Times – Scottish Dance Theatre

The Life and Times from Scottish Dance Theatre (SDT) is the first live-streamed dance performance I’ve reviewed. Conceived and directed by SDT’s Artistic Director  Joan Clevillé, and premiered in 2021, this is a remarkable, dynamic, and innovative production.

A playful, surreal study of time, overseen by two sprites (Jessie Roberts-Smith & Kieran Brown) in baroque attire, and very possibly on sabbatical from Oberon’s court, The Life and Times marries music video to philosophical enquiry.

By completely incorporating digital artist and videographer Tao-Anas Le Thanh into the choreography, Clevillé creates an almost infinite stage, unbound by the physical boundaries of the Dundee Rep stage. This illusion is enabled by a skilful deployment of plywood boards, some on wheels, others in hand. With little other staging but a black drapery backing, the action is swept in and out of sight with a magician’s flare.

“The Life and Times marries music video to philosophical enquiry.”

However, such delightful trickery is not a substitute for either dance prowess or practical choreography. This dance to the baroque (Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti and other evocative meditators upon life and death) music of time, is tied together by our spritely pair’s quest to bake…something. Before that something is revealed in a final, joyful vignette, they will oversee quite the extravaganza.

It seems these spirits need to study humanity to develop their recipe and acquire the requisite ingredients. Around them humanity duly appears, dancing through time and space, a tapestry of quick ‘time fliers’ and slow ‘time draggers’. The camera, dancing between and through this parade continually eschews the simple and ‘straight on’, the framing and movement of this mechanical eye are integral to the storytelling.

A heavy dose of the surreal defies simple interpretation of any scene, however, there’s clear intention in every moment. Clevillé and a talented SDT company find Sisiphyean sensibilities in Solène Weinachter’s oh-so-slow traverse whilst pulling a heavy load, whilst Molly Danter burns with mayfly brightness, their dance a sophisticated blend of popping, locking and modern. Jessie Roberts-Smith rules over all, the undeniable star of the show, with a richly expressive face made for wordless storytelling. With elegance writ in every finger and toe, she is the merry clown monarch of The Life and Times.

**Jessie Roberts-Smith** & **Kieran Brown** © **Tao-Anas Le Thanh**

As The Life and Times advances, these solitary experiences are gradually folded into a group experience, the action building to a truly momentous crescendo set to Handel’s Zadoc the Priest. For all the show acknowledges our inevitable decline and death, there’s an irrepressible joy powering this show. This is a celebration of life, in the context of time, but not completely defined by it.

This isn’t to say proceedings aren’t touched by black humour or even occasional horror sensibilities. Some passages bring to mind zombies a la George A. Romero, whilst a few bits of tape applied to plywood summon impassive Gods to watch the action with impassive gazes. Comedy might be the show’s overriding principal, but only as the converse face of tragedy. If matters slip into the truly mystifying from time to time, something striking is always close at hand to recapture interest and perpetuate the show’s spell.

“…these solitary experiences are gradually folded into a group experience, the action building to a truly momentous crescendo…”

The Life and Times is a testament to the true potential of digitally streamed theatre and dance. Where a static camera pointed at a stage can never recreate the buzz of sitting in the stalls, a dynamic camera woven into a show offers a performer’s eye view unavailable to the patron in the Dress Circle. Close photography lets toes to the dancing, whilst trickery allows the semblance of actions impossible in reality.

Kudos are due to the technical team behind the live broadcast also. The sound quality is excellent, from the recorded classical soundtrack to capturing the report of steps, and creaks of boards Clevillé deploys as percussion in some scenes.

The Life and Times might be best understood as a live, philosophical music video, complete with all the adrenaline-stoking risks that implies. Rather than play it safe, it pushes the horizons of the live-stream medium and points to an exciting new horizon in theatrical digital broadcast. Playful as it is ambitious, surreal yet accessible, it points to a bright future for Scottish Dance Theatre under Joan Clevillé’s leadership.