Dirty Decadence

The ugly world of the über-rich comes under the microscope in Theatre With Teeth’s sassy, pacy ballet, based on Laura Wade's play Posh, and set to a medley of remixed classical tunes and dubstep beats.

Three everyman dandies, two debutantes and an unlucky maid gather one night to flirt, carouse and neck back whisky, which in due course lures to the surface bitter rivalries and repressed desires. The story may be pared back to the bare bones—relationships bubbling into high tragedy—but this allows the cast scope to riff on their strong archetypal characters in a way that hints at Matthew Bourne’s influence lurking behind the scenes.

The dance is at its best when at its nastiest, with mincing mockery and chilly mirroring used to illustrate the cold competitive streaks between apparent friends. Salacious looks are passed, trysts are spied upon, and more than one fiery pas de deux erupts into clawing and climbing. Meanwhile, C Nova’s tiny stage heightens the snarling pressure-cooker atmosphere, giving the lie to the decorum of those graceful chiffon skirts and pristine dickie bows.

The university-based troupe sticks with impressive focus to their tale, never veering into indulgence even when impassioned solos and turbulent duets take the limelight. But at the end of the day the dancers are students, and there is a little roughness around the edges. With a bit more complexity to the choreography however, and a smidge more polish to the execution, this could be one firecracker of a show.