Punch Drunk
Where: , Lakeside Arts Centre, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD
Date(s): 19/10/04
Time(s): 8pm
Cost: £10, £7 concessions, £5 restricted view.
Against a backdrop of decaying theatrical grandeur, Punch Drunk’s six extraordinary performers move like ghosts through a disused theatre, Taking an enthralling journey into the world of vaudeville and burlesque. Slipping in and out of half remembered acts, they piece together the tatters of a show long since past its prime.
Influenced by photographic documentation from the 1930s of dancers backstage at the Folies Bergère and the Monte Carlo Ballet, Punch Drunk offers tantalising glimpses into the ‘off’ stage areas. The typically dramatic set by Forced Entertainment’s founding member Richard Lowdon makes visible the clamps, bolts and cables that hold a performance together.
Punch Drunk strips the act of dancing to the bone. A darkly humorous exposé of the blood sweat and tears that lie behind risqué routines and acrobatic feats, it is about the potent desire to entertain and the need to be entertained.
