Fuerzabruta ***

Roundhouse, London

EXCERPT: “Although I did at points feel a tad conned and underwhelmed, it appears I still responded exactly as the cunning producers predicted I would… thanks to its high production values and the show’s unique nature, I do feel it was worth it."

Fuerzabruta is a hedonistic spectacle with rave-like tendencies. This Argentinean company have leapt onto the slightly formulaic money-spinning bandwagon – akin to Punchdrunk and their Drowned Man phenomenon, this is full of novelty factor and a bit short on moralising/plot/substance.

Production values are high: it is quite the visual spectacle, with shifting curtains of colour and moving blocks, water games played on shifting ceilings of water, acrobatic moves and too many Kodak moments to count. The primeval drumming and rave-music combine to get most people dancing, and our senses are enticed with various opportunities to interact with different materials. However, whilst these are undoubtedly all quite cool, none of these features are quite spectacular enough to account for the very child-like pleasure with which people enter into the spirit of the event.

I believe the buzz in the room can be mainly attributed to the performers’ energy: they are quite evidently having the times of their life. The lack of inhibition shown on stage is gleefully self-evident and I think it is this display of reckless abandonment, the pleasure found in childish games, and their innocent destructiveness, that the audience finds so appealing. I also think there is joy to be felt from the sense that this is a unique experience – and possibly (oh, cynic that I am) from people’s perception of the social mileage that they’re going to get from it in conversations to come.

Although I did at points feel a tad conned and underwhelmed, it appears I still responded exactly as the cunning producers predicted I would… thanks to its high production values and the show’s unique nature, I do feel it was worth it.