Review: THE BROWN SUITE, Woking Theatre - Tour
Photo credit: Deborah Jaffe
The combination of an ambitious company (Fundamentally Dance) with the music of the iconic, soulful James Brown and the creativity of Blacbrik (founded by Darius Drooch and Nahum McClean) in concept and choreography, promises something very interesting and exciting for dance fans. The ambition of the project must be to break out of the dance niche into mainstream theatre entertainment, and the combination certainly havsthe talent and imagination to achieve this. The challenge is how to use the music and lyrics to support a narrative told through dance without any additional words and hold our attention for a two-act performance.
It starts wonderfully using four songs of The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, to introduce us to the six core characters of the story. The early Rhythm and Blues hit ‘Night Train’ (1951) opens the show and we meet the seven dancers in their precise, controlled, energetic opening number. First to couple up are Denise (Leila Wright) and Marcus (Lukas Hunt) in an ensemble dance to ‘I Got You (I Feel Good)’, an upbeat 1965 soul hit. Its sexy and sultry with expressive balletic moves, and sets an electric tone for the show; as the song says, “I feel good, I knew that I would now, I feel nice, like sugar and spice”. Then Angela (Monique Jonas) and Victor (Nahum McClean) couple up in a dance to ‘It’s a Man’s World’ (1966), a wonderful, hot, soulful example of storytelling through dance. Both couples combine in a passionate ‘Try Me’ (1958).
Then we meet Julian (Hugo Bragg) in his stylish cap, and Ray (Darius Drooch), in a dance to ‘Night Train’ which is brilliantly choreographed and synchronised. The seventh member of the ensemble is Joshi Martina as Mr New York who presents as an enigmatic figure between scenes sweeping the floor, wistfully looking at a rose in his pocket, and DJing at the Brown Suite disco before finally getting a solo dance towards the end.
At the disco, Ray attracts Angela away from Victor leading to a fight and you would hope setting up a dramatic second half but the storytelling becomes less clear and there is no build to a climatic conclusion. The wonderfully designed programme explains that the piece started as a duet, Death of the Bachelors, which became the seed for the show. It explains that the show was led by a desire to tell a story through James Brown’s wonderful music and their extraordinary choreography, and you can feel and sense that in every move. But it feels like it needs a clearer narrative to support the extension to a two-act piece and sustain our interest as a piece of theatre.
That’s not to say that for a fan of soul music or high-quality precise sultry dance, this is not a good show. The routines to his hits like the funky ‘Papa’s Got a Brand-New Bag’ (1965) or the slow groove of ‘The Payback’ (1973) or the wonderful iconic ‘Please Please Please’ (1956) are impressive. Add to that Sam Cooke’s ‘You Send Me’ (1957) and a couple of tracks from Etta James and you have an outstanding score. Disappointingly, they do not manage to weave in James Brown’s own iconic move “The Split”, when he used to drop to the floor and pop back up.
As a one-act one-hour dance show, this is amazing and demonstrates the potential of this group. To break out into mainstream theatres and attract a wider audience for a two-hour show, it needs another turn of the development cycle to clarify and add to the narrative. What happens to the three couples: what role does Mr New York play? They are so talented, you want them to succeed in this endeavour to bring dance of this quality to a wider audience. We certainly hope that this it is not the last we see of Fundamentally Dance and Blacbrik and hope that their tour through to York in November, and then Hackney next May, gives them the confidence to build on this show.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne