IoS Reader Offer: Free Tickets for 'Stomp'
LUKE Cresswell and Steve McNicholas have a peculiar way of acclimatising to new places - by sifting through the nearest dump in search of props for their show. The co-founders of Yes/No People have seen a few cities since Stomp burst onstage at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival - on sell-out tours to Europe, America, Australia and Japan. Now London's rubbish tips are in their sights: next week a relaunched Stomp (above) arrives at the Royal Festival Hall.
Urban waste is integral to Yes/No People's performances: their sets are made entirely from detritus. Into this apocalyptic trash-heap world mooches a gang of adolescent slackers who embark on a performance of high-voltage virtuosity. This is theatre without words, dance without music, but what Yes/No People do have in abundance is rhythm. The purpose of the scattered debris becomes clear as one random noise, tapped out with a dust-bin lid, is followed by another - and the air fills with syncopation.
Stomp returns with its key influences intact: Japanese kodo drumming, South African gumboot dancing, Trinidad steel drumming, and British music hall and street theatre. Cresswell and McNicholas explain its success quite simply: "We all want to hit something sometimes."
Stomp runs from Tues 12-Sun 17 Sept; tickets cost pounds 10-20, but the first 10 IoS readers who ring the box office after 10am today will receive a free pair of tickets for the opening night. (RFH, SE1, 0171 960 4242.)
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies