Theatre/Dance review: JOHN

After 2012's Can We Talk About This? physical theatre company DV8 return to the National's Lyttelton with another dance piece based on a verbatim text; but this time the majority of the interviews are with one man. JOHN (Hannes Langolf) describes a pretty nightmarish life: A childhood dominated by an abusive father saw his mother commit suicide, his siblings also dead, and John himself with a heroin addiction. Unsurprisingly, he grows up into a life of crime, mostly petty theft to fund his drug habit, but what sends him away for a long stretch is an act of arson he can't even remember, the result of a psychotic episode following an overdose. As well as the drug addiction, he's dealt with his lifelong depression with compulsive overeating, so when he goes into prison he tips the scales at 25 stone. While inside he trades both addictions for an obsessive exercise regime, and he's released a lot fitter, but it's not the only significant change. He likes cock now.

Theatre/Dance review: Can We Talk About This?

Spending a couple of weeks at the Lyttelton after a world tour, physical theatre company DV8 go for a deliberately controversial subject matter in Can We Talk About This? The theme is Islamic extremism, and in particular the harsh reprisals faced by numerous people who've publicly criticised or spoken out about Islam over the years. The rough starting point is the fatwa against Salman Rushdie over The Satanic Verses, probably the first time most people in this country became aware of Muslim extremism, Sharia Law and its demands for execution of anyone who speaks out against its teachings. The spoken element mainly consists of a verbatim play spoken by the performers, although there's also recordings of actual speeches, and radio and TV debates (meaning Jeremy Paxman gets to steal the show without having to enter the building.) All of this is combined with the performers' abrupt, jerky dance movements.