The key thing to know about Wayne McGregor’s new show is that, although it was inspired by Jim Henson’s cult 1982 film The Dark Crystal, it is nothing like The Dark Crystal. There are no fantastical puppets here, no mythical worlds, no sweet elf-like creatures on a quest for a crystal, no obvious division between two sides, the wise and the cruel, goodies and baddies. So don’t come looking for that. But a picture of a world in peril, yes, that is here, a place with its elements dangerously out of balance on the verge of destruction. McGregor’s point is that this isn’t fantasy, this is our world.
Rather than the characterful protagonists that tell the film’s story, the always-impressive dancers from Company Wayne McGregor embody the natural elements: water (or melting icecaps), with bodies flowing snakily and mouths contorted in silent screams; earth, signified by beautifully twisting tree roots on their catsuits, the art-meets-avant-garde-fashion costumes designed by Philip Delamore and Alex Box; air, with celestial skies and a scene complete with staring eyeball, a nod to oracle Aughra from the film; and fire, in which the dancers wear wing-like lacy sleeves, raging through a forest that’s burnt to black.
