OUTSTANDING DUBLIN dance company CoisCéim make a welcome return to the Town Hall next week with a new version of their 2000 hit show Boxes.
CoisCéim Dance Theatre has transposed the original harmony of that acclaimed two-man show to today’s disharmonious world, where the ‘Celtic Tiger’ is catnapping and global events impact ever more on a local scale.
More revised than recycled, Boxes 2009 features new choreography, a new set, and two new dancers - Broadway tap-dancing legend Jason E Barnard and double-time Critics’ Choice Winner for Outstanding Male, Lee Clayden.
The dancers (who were both in CoisCéim’s Dodgems at this year’s Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival ) play two factory workers who use their limitless imagination and dexterity to create a magical world amid stacks of cardboard boxes.
Boxes reaches out to the heart and brings you on a journey of discovery. Cardboard boxes build an environment that sets off a chain of events for the dancers to play within. Ideas and discoveries are collected and transformed when two factory workers start a day at work with a difference that ultimately reveals just how fragile our house of cardboard can be.
Boxes 2000 won massive acclaim when it premiered, winning over audiences and critics alike at the 2000 Dublin Fringe Festival. Boxes 2009 is set in a darker world and the contrast of two races and cultures in a post-boom factory makes this a far more poignant show.
“It’s a show we always wanted to tour,” reveals company manager Jenny Traynor, “but when we first did it the funds weren’t available for that to happen. Now that we’re finally bringing it on the road we’re really thrilled.
“There’s a different feel to the show this time out, partly because there are two different dancers and they obviously bring their own stamp to David’s choreography. There are other new elements in it too, like Jim Daly’s wonderful animation.
“We think it’s a show that audiences will really enjoy and this is our first time in Galway for two years so we’re very glad to be back - we’ve always had a good response there.”
With a pulsating sound score, whimsical animation, and opulent design, Boxes 2009 is, at its heart, still a witty and heart-felt show that the whole family can enjoy.
Choreographed and directed by CoisCéim’s artistic director David Bolger, dance, imagination, and spectacle are packed away in this touching duet for two men. The production also features original music by Jim Eadie and sound design by Ivan Birthistle and Vincent Doherty.
Boxes is at the Town Hall on Thursday March 19 at 8pm. For tickets contact the Town Hall on 091 - 569777.
