In a dark, dark house there is a dark, dark room. And in the dark, dark room there is a dark, dark cupboard. And in the dark, dark cupboard (back-lit and with an opaque glass front so we can see her shape outlined) is a woman... In Apart Again, she and her three companions – one other woman and two men – act out a choreography of love and hate, desire and repression, dream and nightmare.
The show's theme of the puzzling nature of human relationships in general and male-female relationships in particular is relentlessly pursued. There is a satisfying single-mindedness of intention enacted, with movement motifs recurring throughout the piece, and duets recreated in different combinations. There is a distinctly European style to Lulu's Living Room. They make dance-theatre – but it is not Tanztheater. There is a strong influence of French movement theatre (hardly surprising as the choreographer is Frenchwoman Marianne Rouvier Angeli) with more than a touch of Théâtre du Mouvement in its intense physical couplings and a dash of Josef Nadj in its love of boxes, doors and screens, which are fully exploited for physical possibilities by the four performers. Add to this a soupçon of surrealism – and there you have it.
At times dangerous and dysfunctional, at times resigned and reflective. Sometimes heartbreakingly human, sometimes comically animal – just occasionally admirably angelic. The four specimens on display are, ultimately, just like you or me or even them next door.