Robert Tanitch reviews John at National Theatre/Lyttelton
DV8 Physical Theatre, founded in 1986, has produced some 18 dance theatre pieces to date, with the aim of breaking down barriers between dance and theatre.
Its present artistic director, Lloyd Newson, who studied social work and psychology at Melbourne University, interviewed 50 men about love and sex and then decided to concentrate on just one man’s documentary story.
The end result is that John is not just verbatim theatre, it is verbatim physical theatre.
John, who has had an unhappy, drug-ridden and domestic-abusive life, has been to prison for petty crime. He finally finds salvation in a gay sauna, at which point the production changes gear and becomes something quite different, a celebration of promiscuity, offering plenty of opportunity for full nudity with the cast undressing and dressing only to undress again and again.
The performance is acted out in 75 minutes on a constantly revolving stage which has many rooms, many doors and many corridors. The cast’s movement matches and complements the spoken word; and the spoken word is essentially John’s adult monologue.
The actual physicality, innovative and stylized, is fascinating. The body language, not without humour, is never dance; but it is choreographed and Hannes Langoff is particularly impressive as John.
Thanks to Travelex almost half the seats are £15 with the rest at £25 and £35.
The National Theatre will broadcast John live to over 550 UK cinemas and many more worldwide on December 9.
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