Stage Dragon Review: MK Ultra – G Live

Published on: 4 Oct, 2018
Updated on: 3 Oct, 2018

The Rosie Kay Dance Company is a well-regarded contemporary dance company.

By Alice Fowler

Never let it be said that Guildford is not culturally diverse. While audiences can enjoy some 20th-century artistic navel-gazing this week, in Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art at the Yvonne Arnaud, something bang up to date was happening on the other end of town, at G Live.

The Rosie Kay Dance Company is a well-regarded contemporary dance company, based in Birmingham. Rosie Kay herself choreographed the live Commonwealth Games Handover Ceremony earlier this year.

For one night only, the dancers brought their extraordinary show, MK Ultra, to Guildford. Through dance and film, projected on to a triangular screen, they explored the conspiracy theory that a system of mind control – MK Ultra, developed by the CIA in the Fifties – has been used to create automaton pop stars such as Britney Spears.

Got all that? It was news to me too, but according to choreographer and director Rosie Kay it is common knowledge among the young.

Three men and four women, clad in full-body leotards designed by the costume designer to Lady Gaga, prowled, leapt and crawled across the stage. At times weirdly robotic, at others times sexual and inviting, they lured the audience into a world of pulsating confusion. What was real and what was not? Was the whole thing made up?

At times weirdly robotic, at others times sexual and inviting, they lured the audience into a world of pulsating confusion.

Anchoring all this was the expressive athletic energy of the dancers themselves. Acting as well as dancing, they sighed, grunted and occasionally sang against a throbbing soundtrack.

One was picked out as a pop princess, raised up by her fellows and paraded on shoulders around the stage. A tilted golden throne told us this was about power that had gone askew. The princess faltered and collapsed – her mind control breaking down – before being resurrected and acclaimed once more.

Through dance and film, projected on to a triangular screen, they explored the conspiracy theory that a system of mind control.

Make of it what you will, this was an avant-garde treat to be watching on our doorstep. The large G Live auditorium had many unfilled seats. If this challenging young dance company returns, make the time to go and watch.