Sadler’s Wells’ newest venue, Sadler’s Wells East, is opposite the London Stadium, which has ‘West Ham United’ in huge block capitals over its entrance. That’s useful to know if only because you can check beforehand if there’s a match taking place on the same night you’re attending and plan accordingly.
This brief performance started off in a hurry and then fizzled out and somehow ended too slowly. Kévin Coquelard moves about at a frenetic pace during what was an extended sequence of soundbites, all very jarring, quickly bouncing from one random blast of sound to another, whether it was a brief snippet of chart music or some David Attenborough (or Attenborough-esque) commentary, out of context, or something else. For too long, I hadn’t a clue what was going on. Perhaps the character, who made repeated references to being bullied and targeted, was simply frantically trying to find a way to escape pervading thoughts about what others may or may not have said about him.
He doesn’t like people, overall – Christmas family gatherings are insufferable because his relatives only engage in inane conversation with him and seem to think he loves football (he doesn’t). There are a whole load of other things he finds unpleasurable, and I didn’t get much of an idea of what he does like, other than engaging in his own imagination, in which he thinks of himself as – wait for it – a birdboy. But I didn’t quite understand why, or how he would use his hypothetical birdboy powers, if there were any, to improve his situation in life. And yes, he flaps his arms about as though he had wings, though thankfully only sparingly.
A distancing effect is created by the sheer amount of distorting soundbites that the show never really recovers from. There are some ‘ghosts’ comprised of plastic helium-filled balloons weighed down by what looked like long strings of paper, such that the ghostly figures resembled jellyfish (should this have been Fishboy?), a few of which went into the audience, providing momentary fun for those sat in the front rows. Or maybe they got in the way.
Stephen Dodd’s lighting design was a delight. There was also some use of shadow puppetry, which ultimately didn’t add much to what had already been explored. A fellow audience member wondered afterwards how bruised Coquelard must be, thrashing around, getting on top of an on-stage car – a Volkswagen, so the show’s programme says – repeatedly going through its windows, and so on. But what was the point of it all? There’s an indication that the character is lonely, but then they also seem content in their own company. There were certainly no conscious attempts to socialise with others. The ghosts are never completely exorcised, which denies the show a definitive happy ending. A show about alienation doesn’t need to be alienating in itself. Oh well.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Birdboy is a tribute to all the weird kids left on the sidelines. Using the metaphor of a bird, and it’s perceived freedom, the piece burrows inside the chaotic and vivid inner world of someone who doesn’t fit in. Through a child’s eyes and combining dance, sound and objects, Birdboy is a journey through a frenzied and sometimes beautiful landscape of fear, isolation, fantasy and letting go, performed by dancer Kévin Coquelard.
Birdboy is the first work that Emma Martin has made for both young and adult audiences.
Created by Emma Martin in collaboration with:
Performer Kévin Coquelard
Stage and Costume Design Orla Clogher and Emma Martin
Sound and Composition Dunk Murphy
Lighting Designer Stephen Dodd
Voiceover Faolán Ó Mhurchú-Toner
Stage Manager Sinead Cormack
LX Programmer Susan Collins
Production Manager Peter Jordan
Technical Manager Conor Burnell
Video and Image Luca Truffarelli
BIRDBOY
Sadler’s Wells East
20 to 22 February 2025
