In a studio in east London a young woman stands confidently on the shoulders of a man. Suddenly she launches herself through the air in an arc, seems to magically hover momentarily like a bird, and then swoops downwards and is effortlessly caught. There is whoop of triumph, some high-fives, and everyone gathers to study some video footage that another member of the group has captured on his phone.
This is a rehearsal for Kin, the latest show being created by Barely Methodical Troupe, a young UK circus company who’ve had an international hit with their first show, Bromance. Beren D’Amico, Charlie Wheeler and Louis Gift, all graduates of the National Centre for Circus Arts, explored the boundaries of male friendship through hand-to-hand routines and the Cyr wheel.
It was a hugely likable piece, inspired by the relationships they developed with each other over three years of training together, and it appealed to almost every possible demographic from family parties through to teenage girls and gay men. When I saw a performance at the Edinburgh fringe in 2014, it felt as if almost the entire audience was whooping with joy when the boys’ shirts came off.
“People keep asking us whether we knew the effect we’d have when we took our shirts off and if it was a calculated move,” says Wheeler looking slightly bashful, “but it wasn’t. A lot of the time we train without tops, so it just felt a natural thing to do.”
After 18 months of touring Bromance, around 150 performances and their fair share of injuries, the trio reckon that they are closer than ever and are ready to tackle that difficult second show. Kin premieres as part of the Roundhouse’s biannual CircusFest this week, before moving on to Hull Truck. It’s directed by Ben Duke, who founded the contemporary dance-theatre company Lost Dog, and whose solo dance version of Milton’s Paradise Lost has been a huge hit.
Duke admits to being a bit awed by the nonchalant way in which the six performers throw themselves through the air.
“They have a different relationship with the floor than dancers,” he says. “Circus performers always think and move upwards so they can defy gravity, whereas dancers have a softness that draws them downwards, almost folding into the floor. I’m not trying to turn this lot into dancers. Instead I’m trying to create a hybrid vocabulary that draws on their particular strengths. Some of the physical stuff they can do just takes your breath away.”
It’s a canny move to bring in Duke with all his ability to tell a story and create metaphor, and not just showcase a trick – not least because the trio are acutely aware that what most people would probably prefer is Bromance Mark II. As Wheeler observes: “People often call us the Bromance boys. But we want to make surely that people know us as a company, not just for one show. We could probably carry on doing Bromance for years. But for now we need to move on and create something new. Kin feels like planting a new tree in the BMT garden.”
Not content with just making a new piece, they’ve upped the ante by doubling the size of the company to include Jean Brousse, Jonathan Bendtsen and Nikki Rummer (the only female). That could be exposing, but they felt it was necessary for Kin, a piece that takes its inspiration from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
“It looks at an isolated group existing outside of society,” says Gift, “and what happens when there are no established rules and laws to protect people from each other. How do people survive in such a situation, how desperate can things get in those pecking orders, and how do people find a way to work together?” Increasing the numbers in the cast beyond the BMT trio allows a greater number of permutations in the shifting relationships. “We can build higher towers too,” grins Gift, “which allows us to explore the idea of hierarchy.”
Back in 2010, Circa’s Yaron Lifschitz told me in an interview that UK circus “hasn’t had that Michael Clark moment contemporary dance had in the 1980s. But it will happen.” BMT is one of the emerging UK companies who are evidence that a real shift is taking place. This year’s CircusFest features work from more UK talent than from companies from abroad, and BMT are but one company in a new wave of British circus makers emerging from the National Centre for Circus Arts and other schools, flying on the coat-tails of more established outfits such as Ockham’s Razor and Upswing and creating work with its own distinctive voice. Many of these young circus-makers are looking beyond the wow factor of the trick, and using dance and theatre to tell stories, and explore relationships, sexual politics and emotion.
“I’ve always thought that we had the talent, but what was missing in UK-produced work was the confidence. But that’s starting to happen,” says Kate White, CEO of the National Centre for Circus Arts. “Venues are increasingly understanding that there is high-quality UK circus available, and the more they programme, the less likely it is that the talent will go off abroad in search of opportunities.”
So no pressure on BMT then as they approach the moment when they will unveil Kin to the world.
“Actually, it’s terrifying,” says D’Amico. “But we’ve learned a lot over the last 18 months about ourselves and each other. We’ve grown up a lot. We love doing the tricks ... but you learn a lot about yourself, because pride comes into play. However good the trick, if it doesn’t fit you have to let it go.”
- Kin is at the Roundhouse from 20-24 April. CircusFest 2016 continues at the Roundhouse and other venues until 24 April.
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