On Wednesday 14th November, I went to see Agnes and Walter: a little love story, at SquareChapel in Halifax. I haven’t been to this theatre before, which has an olde worldy antique feel, reminds me a little of the Hyde Park cinema in Leeds. This is a dance theatre piece that got incredible reviews at the Edinburgh Festival and was directed by Neil Paris and produced by Turtle key Arts. Performers included an intergenerational cast of five: Dan Canham, Sarah Lewis, Ronnie Beecham, Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret Pikes.
This is a beautiful little story about Love. The opening sequence is captivating and a perfect set up for the rest of the story. The movement used here is a combination of simple gesture and gratuitous ‘cartoon-like’ mime: Walter appears emptying sawdust from his pockets; Agnes feigns stabbing herself and mock dies on the kitchen table; there is mime of blood and guts spurting out of her as Walter tries various ways to revive her from sewing to a kiss. And like a true ‘Sleeping Beauty’, she literally floats back to life. This is all very cleverly done and is a great metaphor for real love, balancing the fantasy with the mundane. A truly delightful start.
Director, Paris talks about wanting ‘daydreaming’ to become something that ensures that the couple stay together, as opposed to driving them apart. I think this idea is hinted at in the title, as it truly is ‘the little things’ that make up relationships. He talks about wanting to create something that engages people physically and emotionally but is soft and non-aggressive. I think he has fulfilled that aim beautifully. The movement material is simple and clean: a single turn of the head or close of the eyes, for instance, speaks volumes. There is that space to ‘feel’ each moment and let it resonate. For me, this quality is really at the heart of good story-telling, meaningful movement that is integral to the story. There are some wonderfully inventive pictures painted between the couples. I can not pin this down to just one favourite, but let me tell you about a few ‘magic moments’…..
One. Young Walter is on the roof of the shed and the young Agnes is pushing the shed to Tammy Wynette’s voice singing ‘Stand by Your man’. This is such a funny, heart-warming and powerful image. What works really well is that the performers stay with this image, adding very little ‘action’ for the whole song.
Two. Young Agnes is inside the shed is creating what reminds me of 50’s hollywood pin-up girls’ as she appears through the window. Each image is a little more outlandish than the last adding little props such as sunglasses or bunny ears, and all the while, Walter is holding a fan toward her face, which blows her hair in various directions. As an image this is just so inventive and reminds me of that tender silliness people in love share over time.
Three. Older Walter is on top of the shed waving his arms in the air. To rewind just a little, Ronnie Beecham who plays the older Walter, completely owns this stage from the moment he enters. He has amazing presence and reminded me a lot of Gene Kelly. He is not a trained dancer, yet moves with such ease. This is astonishing to watch, especially in light of his 68 years on the planet. I wanted to run out of theatre and gather up all the people I know who have resigned themselves to growing old and losing there agility and strength, and tell them to come see this man. Ronnie inspires me around what is possible. In the biography about Ronnie, his motto for life is:
“Even if you can’t do it, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain”
This, for me, really sums up the quality he brought to the stage: that and his enjoyment of moving. So back to my favourite moment, to see this lovely performer suddenly appearing on top of the shed, was a memorable moment. On a personal level, I am also totally inspired: when I’m 68, I want to be sitting on top of a shed smiling and waving my arms in the air.
The end of this production didn’t have the same magic and clarity as the rest: there was a singer who came on mid way through and I didn’t quite get the relevance of this character to this story. Was she a middle aged Agnes? I am not sure. Perhaps this ambiguity was deliberate, but I found this distracting and felt myself waiting for Agnes and Walter to re-appear. Again, perhaps because I did not understand this aspect, the rest of the narrative seemed less clear: some of the movement seemed to lose it’s poetic edge, which was a real shame, as I found the rest so captivating. Having said that, this was still a wonderful production. It was touching, cleverly crafted, and eloquent: just how I like my theatre.
Zoe Parker is a choreographer and dance artist who blogs about culture, dance and wellbeing. She is one part of @yorkslifeaqua a dry land synchronised swimming team coming to a water feature near you.