Charlie Jeffries & Group Fish / Ernst Fisher & Helen Speckman

Review in Issue 7-2 | Summer 1995

Charlie Jeffries claimed to be developing ‘his own distinctive “post-butoh” style incorporating a range of influences including contemporary dance and contact improvisation’. Potentially very interesting, but the result seemed to be incompletely digested results of experiments with a narrative structure imposed on them. The performers seemed to lack commitment to the work. Perhaps he will be able to resolve these problems as he continues to develop whatever it is he is trying to develop.

Ernst Fischer and Helen Speckman on the other hand were notable for concentration bordering on mania. In choreographic terms this piece was less complex, but the manner of performance was striking. Given that the performance was under the umbrella of butoh and that the performers' interests included German expressionism, and the female grotesque, it was perhaps to be expected that the mode of performance would verge on mania. Despite the most home-made of means, the space was quite transformed and the performance was arrestingly concise in its use of images.

This article in the magazine

Issue 7-2
p. 22