We last featured Mad Dogs Dance Theatre a few years back but since then the company’s AD, as well as creating works for other companies, has moved on to crafting a full evening length work for his own company.
The result is a sometimes brutal interpretation of a London based gangster story involving a man, a woman and an affair. Along with Mr Thorpe’s signature movement style the work features some very hard core dialogue which is not for the faint of heart.
Mad Dogs say this much about the work;
“Dogs Land is the company’s first full evening performance. A double bill of separate yet thematically linked works, the evening promises to excite, engage and entertain. The brilliant cast of dancers will have to work at a sweltering pace to perform the highly dynamic and intense choreography. Dogs Land uncovers a touching story of love, power and emotional attachment between man and wife. Provocative and outrageously profane, the work has a surprising tenderness amidst an explosion of unbridled testosterone.”
Our feature brings you an interview with Douglas Thorpe, the company’s AD, as well as extensive footage from the show itself. ‘Dogs Land’ is currently a work in progress, the show was a preview performance, so expect some changes when you see it live.
‘Dogs Land’ is performed by Lee Clayden, Cliff Burnett, Anna Finkel, Ruth Janssen, Yuyu Rau, Sabrina Ribes-Bonet, Rosannah Carrick, Joss Carter, Aina Gargallo Sanchez, Daisy Natale and Tiia Ourila. With choreography by Douglas Thorpe and music by Junior Willocks.
Filmed at The Riley Theatre in Leeds on February February 4th 2012. This video feature was funded in part by Arts Council England.