Monday 10th until Thursday 13th May 2010 @ The Brewery, Bristol
Showing as part of Mayfest 2010, Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre

The superb Milton Keynes-based theatre company Dancing Brick are back in the Westcountry as part of Mayfest with their new show, 6.0: How Heap And Pebble Took On The World And Won. Heap Krusiak (Thomas Eccleshare) and Pebble Adverati (Valentina Ceschi) are the greatest ice dancers the world has ever known but they are confronted by a world that has run out of ice. Surreptitiously about climate change and the melting polar caps, 6.0 is more a heartbreaking tale of co-dependence – how do you adapt when something or someone you’re dependent on is taken away?

Heap and Pebble’s first instinct is to put on a brave face and carry on as before; they refuse to concede defeat and dance just as they would in their ice-skates but on wooden floors in a charming, light and very funny opening sequence. They are a distinctly lovable pair that embody all the honourable determination of out admired sportspeople but their optimism is ultimately doomed. As the show progresses, cracks appear in both their ambitions and relationship and you can see the heartbreak behind their media-practiced smiles. They need their sport, their success and the continued attention of the world to go on, refusing to realise that their lives have become redundant until finally they are confronted with the tragedy of their situation (and indeed all of ours).

The heartbreak is palpable at several really beautiful moments, memorably when Heap stubbornly won’t give up hope as he sings Dreaming Of A White Christmas, when he touchingly recollects the phonecall that convinced him to turn pro and also as the two ice-skaters dance dreamily together with their fingers.

Dancing Brick’s 2009 show, 21:13, was the best piece of theatre Suit Yourself Magazine saw anywhere all last year and although this one doesn’t quite reach the same sparkling heights, it’s just as charming, funny, poignant and beautiful, and well worth a watch.

www.mayfestbristol.co.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com