Feature: the happiest show on Earth is coming to London.
For complicated reasons I ended up seeing the new spectacle from Argentine stunt theatre legends Fuerza Bruta twice, once effectively on a night out - drink had been taken - and a second time to review as a theatre show.
It’s a ridiculous way of going about it of course, but it is also pretty illuminating because I think these are almost two different philosophical approaches to the Diqui James-led company, who return to the Roundhouse for the first time in over a decade having scored blockbuster successes here with hits ‘Fuerza Bruta’ and (as De La Guarda) ‘Villa Villa’.
Billed as ‘the happiest show on Earth’, ‘Aven’ is more euphoric and less macho than ‘Fuerza Bruta’, and its component parts – the stuff that happens in it – are completely different. There are new themes and motifs: the natural world crops up a lot. But it is undeniably a series of spectacular setpieces with no plot, set to Gaby Kerpel’s pounding electronic score, staged largely around, and often above, the all-standing audience.
The theatrical highs are fairly obvious: a gaggle of acrobatic performers running around the sides of a giant smoke-spitting globe; a man appearing to ‘swim’ through a huge tube filled with a vortex of confetti; at the climax a gigantic inflatable whale – controlled by two performers – swimming majestically through the Roundhouse’s towering vaults.
Overanalyse it as theatre and you’ll probably see it as variable: the aforementioned setpieces are stunning, but there are bits in between that are less ambitious, distractions while the room is set up for the next flashy bit. I think if you’re standing around waiting for narrative or deeper meaning… you will be standing for a long time.
But as vibes, it’s tremendous. From a strictly dramaturgical point of view, stuff like setting off massive confetti cannons while spraying the audience with water to the thunderous strains of Icona Pop and Charli XCX’s ‘I Love It’ is not that boundary breaking. But it is pretty much irresistible entertainment to anyone with a pulse. If you have the vaguest interest in dancing on a night out ‘Aven’ will deliver, either as a pre-club warm up or an end in itself. It’s also pretty child friendly – my kids were a bit unsure of the volume at first but before long they were merrily making snow angels in the confetti. And the whale is just a perfect moment of pure communal joy – adults and children were screaming to touch its flippers as if were some vast cetacean rock star.
At the end of the day, how much theatre actually makes you dance? ‘Aven’ may not reward overthinking, but it’s pure magic for the boogie inclined.