You have to hand it to BalletBoyz (Michael Nunn and William Trevitt) for sheer chutzpah. Spurred by Stephen Ellcock and Mat Osman’s book England on Fire – an incongruous yet undeniably alchemical collection of images and words conjuring “the psychic landscape of Albion” – they gathered no less than 40 artists, including nine choreographers, six composers, 14 dancers (one on film only), a rock band, an instrumental ensemble and a folk singer, to create a composite performance that might likewise invoke the inner life of this motley, many-faced and much-mythologised country – minus its surface pleasantries and its upright mask. All in about 80 minutes.
