It is somewhere between the star performer being dropped off by a big tattooed bloke in a cloak and her wallowing in a pile of cardboard boxes to ‘80s synths, that the audience wonders whether they’ve accidentally walked into the International space festival, rather than the International Mime Festival.
Iona Kewney has fused dance, circus acts and visual art to create Knights of the Invisible, which makes its London debut at the Southbank Centre. Kewney utilises her imagination and vision to take both her body, and us, the audience on a journey through various states of euphoria, violence and anger. My first thoughts were, “oh dear, here’s another female dancer writhing about manically to discordant music”, something I’d seen done many times at other experimental London dance performances. Despite this, there was an undeniable urgency to Kewney, juxtaposed against her spry and choreographed movements that served to soften the violence of her dancing.
The backdrop to this was the angelic, majestic and at times guttural vocals of Joseph Quimby- AKA big tattooed bloke in a cloak- set against ’80s movie synths. His majestic vocals and multi-instrumental talents allowed the performance to soar and gave it an ethereal, surreal and at times deeply unsettling edge, but one that was mesmerising nonetheless. It’s hard to decide what Knights of the invisible did best, as it fuses so much at once; dance, circus, singing and music. But overall as a performance that does so much it manages to feel cohesive and enthralling. A blast. 4/5
Review written by Evan Parker.
Knight of the Invisible is currently showing as part of this year’s London International Mime Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre). For more information on the production, visit here…
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