New Art Club: Quiet Act of Destruction

While the hoodies have been revolting down south, New Art Club are creating their own riotous micro-climate at Assembly, pitting village against village and encouraging the throwing of missiles – albeit soft, flat ones.

Tom Roden and Pete Shenton have been choreographing comic dance pieces together since 1995, but after an early flurry of shape-throwing here they stick largely to less cultural matters. Quiet Act of Destruction is an interactive workshop about a sleepy Cambridgeshire village that inexplicably begins a war with its neighbour, represented here by the audience who are split into rival factions and encouraged to goad their neighbours like 1980s Millwall fans.

You could probably analyse the subsequent, very enthusiastic food-fight in a sociological sense—our innate tendency toward tribalism—or you could just bemoan the waste of a good loaf. Either way, it’s strangely apt given the news elsewhere.

There’s a nicely ramshackle nature to this show, albeit as tightly choreographed as a Beyonce video, and the two principles combine well. Roden is the slightly posh straight man, while Shelton looks like a member of mock cock-rockers The Darkness gone contemporary dance. Their show shifts from wonderfully inventive to plain silly and eventually ends with something of a whimper. But that first half-hour rocked.

Quiet Acts of Destruction is best avoided if you don’t like audience participation, or bits of bread in your hair (there are a couple of walk-outs early on). But if you have any urge to riot, it might be an idea to let New Art Club exorcise it from your system.