Birdboy

The new Sadler’s Wells east London site has recently opened in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park cultural quarter, which I think is supposed to be referred to as the East Bank.

I met PY by the Westfield shopping centre and walked to the venue. The entrance we used had a small bar where we bought two glasses of wine. We walked around to the entrance facing the waterfront, and there was another bar and café. But we didn't have to wait long before the house was open, and we entered a surprisingly cavernous space. The auditorium descends from ground level and feels enormous. The views from all the seats are excellent: there are no pillars or supports in the way there would be in older West End theatres.

The work we saw was called Birdboy. It's a forty-minute piece by Irish choreographer Emma Martin, described on the theatre's website as an "all-ages tribute to all the weird kids left on the sidelines." I had no idea what to expect, except that it was a one-dancer show in which the other character was the car on stage.

I don't know how to describe what I saw, but I was immediately hooked. It's a lot less 'dancy' than I imagined, but the physical contortions and movement are mesmerising. The soundscape ranges from birdsong, through the child's voice talking about life, to a fast-paced montage of sound snippets of the world: David Attenborough nature shows, weather forecasts, and music. Later, I saw it described as "dark and shadowy", but I didn't experience that at all; it was wonderful.

Afterwards, we went to a nearby bar for a drink, discussing what we'd seen and thoroughly recommending it.