Naive Dance Masterclass |
Published on Monday, 23 April 2012 | |||||
Here’s a real Fringe oddity – in the best possible sense – returning to Brighton after a successful debut last year. On its face a light-hearted lampoon, Naïve Dance Masterclass pays indulgent homage to the excesses of experimental art… and celebrates, after a fashion, all those who bare their souls on stage. Witty, eloquent, and close to unique, it’s the ideal comic counterpoint to the artier side of the Festival. Delivered by real-life lecturer Matt Rudkin, the fake tutorial begins with an autobiographical monologue – filled with offbeat non-sequiturs, and barbed digs at the excesses of performance art. The Naïve Dance itself, which Rudkin claims to have discovered, contains a certain kind of beauty, and there’s a big surprise (which we wouldn’t dream of spoiling) waiting halfway through. When FringeGuru’s Richard Stamp reviewed this show in 2011, he revelled in the conspiratorial in-jokes and the shamelessly intellectual word-play. It was quirky and liberating, he wrote, with Rudkin’s perfect characterisation rendering his pretentious persona alarmingly real. Last year’s show felt a little short on material, but we’re promised a reworked version this time around – so if you didn’t catch it the first time, a quickstep to the box office really wouldn’t be naïve. |
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FROM OUR ARCHIVES
These are archived reviews of shows from Brighton 2012. We keep our archives online as a courtesy to performers, and for readers who'd like to research previous years' reviews.