LOL – Curve, Leicester

Artistic Director: Luca Silvestrini

Video animation and film: Rachel Davies
Composer: Andy Pink

Reviewer: Jemma Crowston
[Rating:5/5]

Using our obsession with everything online as the primary theme for Luca Silvestrini’s LOL was pure genius. This hour and fifteen minute physical theatre performance uses abstract dance movements and intertwined stories to express our lives on the information highway.

Protein Dance company mesmerised the audience in Leicester’s Curve theatre studio last night (Feb 28).  The show began with some fantastic video footage from Rachel Davies portraying the six dancers staring blankly into what were presumably computer screens. What follows is a very witty portrayal of the way we update our social network statuses and how often we use this tool. The dialogue from the dancers was mirrored by the metaphorical dancing with the dancers moving each other’s bodies to represent the narrative.

The majority of the audience members were those who have grown up with technology and social networks as a staple in their lives. So when the dancers used the symbols/emoticons in the dialogue you could hear the quiet hums of recognition around the room which gave them a connection to the story.

Two dancers started to perform to the sounds of keyboard keys tapping, produced by composer Andy Pink, and it was clear the two were having a conversation via a chat room or messenger. When a third dancer came barging between the two it was an interpretation of a conversation interrupted and then one of the dancers veers off the set which triggers another to type/dance furiously at the person who had interrupted their conversation.

The second part of the show delved into the issues with our obsession. A combination of the dance performance and video gave an illusion of information overload which can be the case when surrounded by a wealth of knowledge online.

The show also looked at the ever complicated world of online dating and how communication is moving away from being personal and how you can feel loneliness despite having 1,000 friends on Facebook. LOL (Lots of Love) looks at the world of electronic communications to uncover the evolutionary shift that social networking and the internet are having upon the way we live and love.

This imaginative performance would appeal to young people or those who are web savvy.

Reviewed on the 28^th February 2011 and tours the UK