A rare fusion of dance and theatre will have its English premiere in Sheffield this November.
I spoke with the Artistic Director, James Pett, who also produces, choreographs, and dances in ‘The Panic Room’ – a psychological thriller which aims to help audiences understand and connect to the contemporary dance style through a relatable, gripping and moving story.
What is ‘The Panic Room’ about?
This is our first full-length dance narrative we’ve ever attempted to do. It’s 90 minutes, two acts, and a psychological thriller told through dance, script, music, and a unique set design of ours that we’ve been developing over the last two years.
It came from a response after touring the UK for the last 3 years. We found a lot of audiences feedback that contemporary dance is not for them because they find it difficult to follow, difficult to understand, and difficult to connect to. So we thought, ‘okay, how do we respond? How can we refresh and present dance in an interesting way that’s more accessible and more dynamic?’
We developed a story with four characters. The protagonist is a writer trapped in a room with three characters, and he goes on a very long journey trying to finish his novel. It’s later revealed as we cycle through all these different scenes that he’s actually writing about a real life experience. It’s a thrill ride for the audience.
Actors speak over music, and dancers move to their words so you can see the acting and the physical language through the dancers’ bodies in a way that’s interesting for audiences to follow along.
What is so special about this particular performance in Sheffield?
First of all, it’s the English premiere, so it’s never been seen anywhere in England before – it’s not even been seen in London yet. So that’s very exciting.
And secondly, it’s being supported by the University of Sheffield as a co commissioner, alongside Enable Us. I want to fill the Octagon stage with an audience because it’s such an accessible performance, and there’s so many elements involved that I think young audiences and university students can enjoy. Whether it’s the set, the music, script or all the dance. My goal is to try to reach as many people as possible and get a buzz around the show.
Is there anything in this production that you think will particularly connect with students?
The general spectacle of it, because the dancers in the production are world-class dancers. They are absolutely sensational. So students will really appreciate the quality. And they will really connect to the story of a writer who is overworked, stressed, trying to finish this book. He can’t. He’s being pressured by his whole team. They will relate to that feeling of being in a very important chapter of their life, feeling the pressure and knowing you need to succeed. I think they’ll connect to the story.
You mentioned that you realised most people find it hard to watch contemporary dance, so, what new understanding of dance do you want audiences to leave this production with?
I want to encourage audiences that dance can be exciting and dynamic, specifically contemporary dance as well, and it can be easily understood.
With this work audiences will see another dimension of how contemporary dance can be used in a work, because we’re in an era now, aren’t we, where you can’t really do one thing. Everything is merging. So, fusing contemporary dance with a bit of theatre, a bit of cinematic sound and a bit of script, allows audiences to have a little safety net to feel like they will connect with it, and then actually go and see it.
Just to be honest, once audiences do see the show, the feedback we now get is, “I want to see more. I can’t believe I’ve never seen this kind of thing before.” For me, that is one of the main seeds of why we started this whole production.
And how does dance elevate the story that’s being told in the production?
When you’re dealing with psychology and the mind, that’s not something that can be easily explained. What’s so special about contemporary dance is it is an internal expression through the body, so that gives such an interesting interpretation for the audience because body language is everywhere, isn’t it? You know if someone’s feeling really sad because they’re naturally going to concave their chest, and you’re going to feel that. If someone cries, they’re naturally going to hunch over, or if someone’s really angry, they come forward with their chest. It doesn’t all need to be explained in a script, so this is more direct in some ways.
Is there anything within the story that you think audiences might really relate to?
It gets very profound at the end. I won’t give away too much because there’s a big plot twist, which is something we researched a lot about psychological thrillers. We watched a lot of movies and read a lot of books to learn how scriptwriters create what they call red herrings, where they send you in different directions to believe it’s this way or that way, and then obviously there’s a big reveal. We’ve followed that structure, so the audience is being pulled right to left and want to know what’s happening, but then we end on a very human moment where what you thought he was trying to do is actually something else completely.
At the world premiere – in Scotland – audiences found it quite shocking and very moving. What he goes through is such a universal theme right now, which is denial and suppression. When we go through bad experiences now, all we can do in this fast-paced society is carry on, right? We have to push forward and keep going, and we neglect things about ourselves just to stay strong. A lot of this script is inspired by that.
Wow, I’m so excited to watch it and see what happens. Can you tell me about the set design and the ideas behind it?
I had this idea of five walls. The set design is by an internet-sensation autonomous designer, which is someone who makes wood sculptures that hold thousands of different mechanisms to create a figurine with a weird kind of movement. And he’s actually my cousin, funnily enough. He makes much smaller models, but I approached him and said, “could you create a large-scale version of a room with five walls and a turbine on the back so the walls tilt to the side, or punch through and distort like a surrealist painting?” And he said, “Yeah, of course I can.”
So that was the beginning. Now, we have five walls on wheels, so they’re mobile, and a window that can distort and tilt sideways on stage. Our dancers actually create the panic room for John as the walls almost reshape and enclose around him. It’s very, very, impressive.
That sounds very intriguing, and what are the benefits of having an original score for this piece?
We’re blessed because my younger brother’s the composer. I’ve been working with him for years now and he does a lot with piano, drums, guitar and classical instrumentation. But he also works with experimental sounds and synths, you know, like the 80s synths you hear in Stranger Things on Netflix. If I was to describe the score, it is full of atmospheric music that really does sound like a movie. We were really keen to create that cinematic sound as we’re in this era of battling with Netflix and all these streaming services where people would rather sit on their sofa and watch a film. How can we compete with that and create something just as dynamic – if not more in my opinion – with live theater?
We’ve included the types of specific sounds they use in horror movies and thrillers to trigger a response from the audience and make them feel like ‘I’m on tenterhooks right now!’
Can you explain any inspirations that went into the choreography?
Inspirations… The last two years we performed Sheffield, our works were much more abstract where movement is left up to interpretation for the audience. But for this choreography, we were very inspired by how we can embody a character. John is a writer, so we’re thinking, how would a writer stand or sit down and be frustrated that he can’t figure out the last chapter? How would he behave? We researched a lot about how writers pace around a room.
And the other three characters have very distinct qualities as well. There’s the publisher, who’s this very grandiose character, really flamboyant and loud, and encourages him to do the big ideas. And then there’s the female editor who’s really precise and she wants him to add details and dot the t’s, so her style is clinical and sharp. You can already imagine all the different movement languages we had to explore because we want the audience to connect to each character that, in essence, we have in ourselves in some way. We all have a logical side and a crazy side.
And lastly, what do you hope audiences will leave feeling or understanding about the world?
Deep question. There is a profound meaning behind the whole panic room, that you have certain parts of your life you’ve experienced and need to figure out how to deal with and how you move on. I’m hoping the audience will walk away feeling moved by the experience. Maybe they’ll see themselves in the work or a specific character, who knows? But I think feeling very emotionally moved is what they are going to feel.
I really want to encourage audiences and your readers to come and see the show. The tickets are only £10 for a student to see a work of this caliber in the Octagon Centre. It’s so rare to get that kind of opportunity. It won’t disappoint.
The English Premiere of The Panic Room is at the Octagon Centre on November 16 at 8pm.
Image Credits: Shaun Matheson / SMPhotography
