When the curtain goes up here in east London, just across town there’s another opening night: fans gathering to worship the late dance theatre icon Pina Bausch, whose Sweet Mambo is at Sadler’s Wells. Whereas on this stage, six men send up Bausch’s choreography and signature style, skewering its cliches. Not that everyone in the audience will know the reference. If you’re not a regular dance-goer, you may just see a bunch of men in long flowing gowns processing around the stage and flinging their long wigs about. But still entertaining.
A lot of Tutu, after all, is just about raising mirth through silly dancing and silly costumes. All-male comedy dance company Chicos Mambo, directed by French choreographer Philippe Lafeuille, have been performing this show for more than a decade, and it seems to be a camp crowd-pleaser. Certainly the costumes are fun: puffy, flamingo-coloured tutu trousers, like a cross between a powder puff and a frilly toilet roll cover; hats that look like vegetables (Why? Why not!).
