This is Rambert | Newcastle Theatre Royal
16th June 2026 | Review by Stephen Stokoe
Rambert (formerly Ballet Rambert) are celebrating their 100thanniversary and in this collection of pieces they are certainly showcasing the very best of their innovative, creative, and technically superb pieces with flair, style, and a great deal of fun. In their anniversary year, they could have been forgiven for being sentimental and looking back over their extensive works to celebrate their many achievements over the last decades. Not one bit of it. This is a statement work. It looks forward. It sets out the glories to come as they head into their second century.
In this trilogy of works the audience is treated to some outstanding techniques, storytelling, and passionate dance moves that have the observers exhausted just by watching them. In the first act of the programme, the staging is intimate with only a piano visible and a red curtain reducing the size of the performance area. The pianist and composer (Yonatan Daskal) of some of the following pieces are a joy to listen to as the dancers are caught up in the various rhythms being played by this virtuoso musician. First we have a single dancer seemingly bewitched by the sounds and tempo followed by duos and groups being caught up in the passion of the pieces. It is passionate, it is fiery, it is raw. The choreography by Bobbi Jene Smith / Or Schraiber combines smooth flowing sequences with jerky and sensually charged movement. It opens the show with fire, heat, and just a seasoning of lust.
The lighting (Nadav Barnea) is dark and moody complementing the action perfectly and adding a dangerous and slightly unnerving tone to the piece.
After a short break the first act continues with Hop(E)Storm by (LA)Horde in collaboration with the Rambert Dancers and associate directors. In a way, the company does look back at dances from years gone by (specifically the Lindy Hop) but it is brought screaming and athletically up to date with a spirited performance by all. This is the segment in which, I felt, the dancers let their hair down a little. They were clearly fully engaged with this ‘Black Mirror – esque’ reflecting on a dance style of the past and spinning it into the modern era with lighting states (Eric Wurtz) to match. There was an other-wordly feel about this piece for me and once more left me breathless as I sought some interval libation to recover.
I was on my own this evening so it was very interesting to people watch (and listen) during the interval hearing snippets of their conversations. The interpretations of the themes of performative dance are, of course, extremely subjective and even when you have read the beautiful souvenir programme and have an insight into the creative processes, there is often something one’s own imagination can add to the viewing. All three of these pieces evoked memories, feelings, and emotions from me occasionally quite aside from the intended meaning. It was fascinating and I am only at the interval.
And so to Act Two which presented the whole company in a dramatised depiction of an airport terminal. I have already mentioned the lighting and I have to commend Ryan Joseph Stafford on his lighting design for the segment entitled ‘Gallery of Consequence.’ In the first couple of minutes of the piece, I was reminded of the animated opening of the Steven Spielberg helmed movie ‘Catch Me If You Can.’ That this could be conjured up by real live performers in such a vivid way is testament to the skill of everyone involved and is simply remarkable.
The beauty, madness, and sheer vitality of a bustling airport terminal is skilfully brought to life by Emma Evelein, Emma Farnell-Watson and dramaturg Amy Baty. The sequence depicting customs officers frisking the passengers was particularly effective and totally mesmerising. The timing and attention to detail is outstanding in this piece. The catty, camp check-in clerks were also quite wonderful and made me smile. Everyone who has every been in an airport will have seen these characters and will be able to relate to the action on stage. The piece also and quite brilliantly brings out the unnatural atmosphere of airports. The excitement, the fears, the rules, and the craziness.
Many congratulations to the company of Rambert both past and present on your monumental achievement of 100 years. This collection serves to show that Rambert is in safe hands and I look forward to seeing you back at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle very soon.