DV8

The physical theatre company DV8 was created in London,1986 by a group of keen dancers who grew “frustrated and disillusioned with the preoccupations and direction of most dance”(ArtsAdmin, n.d.), lead by head choreographer Lloyd Newson who has since retired in 2022. Coming from a dance background, unlike many other physical theatre companies, their focus is on giving meaning to movement in theatre and covering a variety of topics such as political, social and psychological issues. Religion is one of the main issues Newson addresses as he feels “the work I make is to somehow resolve the conflicts I observe in society”(Delving into Dance, 2020). Consequently, one of their most famous pieces Can We Talk About This? focuses on Islamic issues, freedom of speech as well as multicultural policies born out of a series of events such as the sharia law, the murder of Theo Van Gogh and forced marriages. Within this case study, I aim to examine DV8’s work through their performances, aims and impact on the industry and society today. I am intrigued to examine this company as I feel they hold strong beliefs and express them in a vibrant and engaging way that I wish to understand and appreciate further.

Originally from Australia with a degree in psychology and social work, Newson moved over to England with the appeal of a full scholarship for London Contemporary Dance School where he trained for a year. After a while of moving around through several theatre companies, he decided to found DV8 as his own. Over the life span of DV8, the company has gained success in a variety of forms such as theatre, film and tours with 18 stage productions and the gaining of 55 international and national awards. At the beginning of Newson’s work, he would tackle subjects surrounding masculinity and homosexuality which you can see in his first production My Sex, Our Dance? in 1986. This dance heavy performance reflects the differently perceived relationships of heterosexual and homosexual couples demonstrating the “innocuous mode of love contrasted to the “deviate” angst of homosexuality” (Howell, 1989). The performance was seen with a “scary physicality with which the performers enact their choreography” (Howell, 1989) that outlined the bold and aggressive dance style that Newson choreographed at the time. After becoming “Fatigued by the bruising physicality” (DV8 Physical Theatre, 2015), he decided to change the style of performance to become more “poetic and imagistic” (DV8 Physical Theatre, 2015). Can We Talk About This? was where DV8 began to incorporate text to aid the story as Newson felt he “could no longer adequately express ideas I need to in movement alone” (DV8 Physical Theatre, 2015). Along with this, DV8 also saw a transition into verbatim theatre as Newson grew tired of creating fictional performances. He started conducting interviews to gather peoples lived experiences surrounding some of the subjects he wanted to explore in order to convey more impactful stories with more weight to them. This heavy piece had a variety of reception, some found the subject “over-simplified” (Billington, 2017) while others say “There is no solving the challenges posed by a multi-faith society– or the white far right – if we can’t hold an honest discussion about them: ‘Can We Talk About This?’ is one hell of a conversation starter” (Time Out London, 2012). The spectrum of opinion about Can We Talk About This? further established DV8 as a risk taking company, unafraid to tackle unspoken topics with confidence of opinion. JOHN was DV8’s next daring verbatim theatre production, covering another weighty topic surrounding male struggle and the involvement of sex and love. The production takes us through the rocky life of John, based off of a real story and played by Hannes Langolf, who represents the tortured lives of many men. With an unstable family set up due to a sexually abusive and violent father along with an alcoholic mother, Johns childhood lead him to an insecure life of identity crisis, crime and drug abuse. Part the way through John’s story, the play has a sudden break off into the story of the owners of a gay male sauna where John is one of the clientele, based off of 50 interviews conducted by Newson. Due to it being verbatim theatre, this production hold a lot of truth and reality of struggle to it and was said “smashes narrative expectations” (Gardner, 2017). Just as before, this performance had a mix of opinions, now to be expected with a DV8 production. As with a lot of their productions, the movement was well received with descriptions such as “intricate and intimate” (DV8PhysicalTheatre, 2015) while people had another view of the contents including “I felt like I had developed the emotional bends when we dashed headlong into the second half” (Payne, 2015). But one thing is clear, DV8 aren’t afraid of “taking risks within their work” (Bouckley, 2016) to tackle hard to swallow issues and is held in high regard because of that.

DV8’s work can be easily recognisable from their marriage to risk taking in their work, not only by their daring subject matter but also the demanding and physical aspects of performance. Its clear that DV8 feel very strongly about taking socio-political issues to the stage but also that they don’t conform to one mold of performance. Newson claims that “I will make work that will change and I need to make work that changes” (Delving into Dance, 2020) which can be seen by their individualistic repertoire. Newson brings subjects such as religion, homosexuality and masculinity into his work as “I make the work from my perspective, for me” (Delving into Dance, 2020). Taking these subjects to the stage forces people to think about the topics in a new and engaging way, always with a lesson or idea that the audience can take away to ponder. As strong personal beliefs drive the content, DV8 produces very real and meaningful performances that come from passion. Although the loaded subject matter plays a key role in DV8’s style, something that apers to get lost within the work is Newson’s desire to focus on the movement aspects of his pieces over the content. He feels that sometimes people get lost in their own opinions about the subject matter that they miss the performance in front of them, as stated “And sometimes I wonder if I had just put on some nice music and people weren’t talking or you didn’t know what the subject matter was and I abstracted it, they would then engage and they would then see all the sort of subtle patterns and choreographic movements” (Delving into Dance, 2020). Evidently, Newson feels very strongly about the role that movement and his choreography play in telling the stories, with text only being an aid to clarify the subject matter. DV8 performances strive to break the pretentious ideas behind dance that oversee the important aspect of a performance, believing “there is an aesthetic that dominates our work, that often complex or ugly or difficult issues are glossed over because people are pointing their feet and look very lovely”(Delving into Dance, 2020). Newson has always wanted his work to be viewed as movement rather than dance as there is precision and detail behind his choreography, “The focus of the creative approach is on reinvesting dance with meaning, particularly where this has been lost through formalised techniques” (ArtsAdmin, n.d.).

Conclusion

After fully completing my case study investigation on the physical theatre company DV8, I have discovered that the organisation likes to break boundaries with their work on topics that they feel deserve a place on a stage. Instead of discussing what they think might be best perceived by everyone, they like to take risks by creating weighty performances surrounded by loaded subjects. I have also come to realise that the movement and choreography plays a bigger role in their messages than I first presumed, with the movement being the key thing that Newson wanted people to focus on. I feel that DV8 is a head strong company when it comes to putting on pieces of performance that best suit themselves, which I have grown to respect from the company. With their head strong attituded, I have observed that their performances are powerful due to the fact and that they may not have reached such a commanding sense of realness without it. I believe that they have had a strong role in influencing the performance industry with their work as well as the world of dance, giving the idea of movement another meaning all together. If DV8 have done nothing else, then they have at least made people think which is a great accomplishment in itself.

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Bibliography

(ArtsAdmin, n.d.)

ArtsAdmin (n.d.). DV8 Physical Theatre. [online] Artsadmin. Available at: https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/profiles/dv8-physical-theatre/.

(Delving into Dance, 2020)

Delving into Dance. (2020). Lloyd Newson- Transcript. [online] Available at: https://www.delvingintodance.com/transcript/lloyd-newson.

(Howell, 1989)

Howell, J. (1989). DV8 Physical Theatre. [online] Artforum. Available at: https://www.artforum.com/events/dv8-physical-theatre-220299/.

(DV8 Physical Theatre, 2015)

DV8 Physical Theatre (2015). DV8 Physical Theatre | Company Promo. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsKtaMrxguE.

(Billington, 2017)

Billington, M. (2017). Can We Talk About This? – review. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/mar/13/can-we-talk-about-this-review.

(Time Out London, 2012)

Time Out London. (2012). Can We Talk About This? | in London. [online] Available at: https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/can-we-talk-about-this [Accessed 4 Jan. 2025].

(Gardner, 2017)

Gardner, L. (2017). DV8’s John review – a thrilling descent into chaos. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/nov/05/john-dv8-national-theatre-review.

(DV8PhysicalTheatre, 2015)

DV8PhysicalTheatre (2015). DV8 Physical Theatre | JOHN: Audience Feedback. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXXOseCJ4ws [Accessed 24 Mar. 2021].

(Payne, 2015)

Payne, S. (2015). Blackpool Social Club. [online] Blackpool Social Club. Available at: https://www.blackpoolsocial.club/17462-review-john-by-dv8/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2025].

(Bouckley, 2016)

Bouckley, F. (2016). Developing Physical Theatre (Frantic Assembly and DV8). [online] Dancing in Halifax. Available at: https://franklinbouckley.wordpress.com/2016/12/01/developing-physical-theatre-frantic-assembly/.