Created by Tara Boland
Directed by Joz Norris
Review by Marina Funcasta
This show is about living your dream – loudly, joyfully, and unapologetically. It’s funny and big-hearted, pulsing with the only determination a dance teacher could master. Dusty holds herself with unblinking devotion to the cause – of dance, of dreaming, of general character. And the result is terrifying, that is, terrifyingly funny.
The moment I decided I had never seen a show like Dusty Creases: Dance Your Life Away was during ‘the warm-up’. Tara Boland’s unflinching devotion to character is almost clownish: right down to her costume, Boland is uncannily familiar as a dance instructor. Like a ballet teacher with a fierce, unhinged glare but a warm heart. Instructing us to ‘release our pelvis’, Boland manages to get everyone in the room doing as she says, no matter the embarrassment. And she does all this without pushing too hard. Instead, her tone is gentle, playful, with a glint in her eye. You smile, and participate, almost despite yourself.
And with this comes a warning: this isn’t a sit-back-and-watch kind of show. Audience interaction is the fabric Boland works with – that is, audience interaction and multi-role play. Splitting between Dusty and her stage manager, its hard not to trace a Freudian battle of the egos in her funny wee duologues. Making masterful use of the stage curtain, every inch of the Bunker becomes Boland’s playground.
This fight however does wane, and her show falters into repetition towards the end. This is not a bother, however, as the finale is truly captivating. A melange of laughing, dancing and imagining, what stays with you is the feeling of forgetting, even if just for a moment, the fear of shame, and instead being reminded of the courage it takes to live openly, dream fully, and reach out to other
A Melange of Laughing, Dancing, Imagining
Dusty Creases: Dance Your Life Away runs at Pleasance Courtyard
Running time: Sixty minutes without interval
Photo credit: Emily Carding
Review by Marina Funcasta (contact@corrblimey.uk)
Marina is halfway through an English literature degree at Edinburgh University, wherein she has been (considerably) involved in the drama scene: enjoying performing with their Shakespeare Company shows, but also modern takes on Arthur Miller. However, Marina’s interests are wide-ranging under the theatre genre – enjoying abstract, more contemporary takes on shows (with a keen interest in Summerhall)
