BalletBoyz – England on Fire review: big ambitions but no burning message

BalletBoyz bite off more than they can chew in this mudded meditation on national identity

‘England on Fire’ is a riff on a book by Stephen Ellcock and Mat Osman (Thomas Bradshaw)

In England on Fire, the BalletBoyz bite off more than they can chew. It’s a big, state-of-the-nation staging, featuring more than 40 artists, with multiple threads and themes. It aims for a rebellious jumble of voices and ideas, but sinks into muddle.

BalletBoyz directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt are known for big collaborations, whether that’s early successes with choreographer Russell Maliphant and ballerina Sylvie Guillem, or more recent reinventions of their company.

For England on Fire, they riff off the book by Stephen Ellcock and Mat Osman, which brought together images and text of folklore, protest, and visionary traditions. The stage work has multiple choreographers and composers, arranged as chapters. Between scenes, Andrew Ellis’s lighting spills patterns out across the auditorium walls. A voiceover, unfortunately muffled on opening night, speaks a linking text: imagined cities, labyrinths, weeds.

In the opening scene, choreographed by Ola Ince, dancer Artemis Stamouli lies on a draped couch that shifts and writhes under her, unfolding into folkloric figures. Ironically, one suggests a Welsh Mari Lwyd figure: this show doesn’t get to grips with Englishness as opposed to Britishness.

As more dancers emerge, they fall into driving unison, with punchy rhythms and loping moves, or break into vignettes. In one of the strongest scenes, a trio in red dip into grounded, stamping dances, choreographed by Vidya Patel. Another trio, dressed in elaborate rags, fall into slapstick acrobatics, trying to hold each other up. Other scenes lack definition: when post-punk band Gag Salon take over from the onstage orchestra, it’s a change in volume but not in mood or energy.

‘England on Fire’ by BalletBoyz references many things, but doesn’t have a lot to say about them (Thomas Bradshaw)

The 15 dancers throw themselves into the action, from unison raves to ritual confrontations. Oxana Panchenko and Harry Alexander stand out, their charisma giving the meandering work some focus.

At one point, a video screen shows a television collage: politicians, Nineties game shows, royal processions, the Brexit vote, reality television. The film feels divorced from the vague folk psychedelia around it, but both have a similar problem: just referencing something doesn’t mean you have something to say about it. 

Without the film, and the many England flags dotted about, it wouldn’t be clear that this is a show about national identity. There are nods to rebellion, but against what? Industrialisation and colonialism are absent; inequalities are abstract. England on Fire has big ambitions, but no burning message to share.

Sadler’s Wells Theatre, until 11 November; sadlerswells.com