Cowpuncher My Ass at Royal Festival Hall

Cowpuncher My Ass is not the sort of show that I would normally consider seeing but my account with Southbank Centre has a lot of credit on it that I need to spend. It is modern dance and I do not see enough of that (mostly through lack of opportunity) so I willingly parted with £40 for seat  J31 in the stalls.

I was quickly reminded why I normally avoid stalls seats as the young man directly in front of me was tall enough to interrupt my view of the stage. Luckily it is a wide stage and the visual interruption while undesired was not not catastrophic. Likewise the nearby audience members  checking their phones, chatting and playing with drink bottles. I have had much worse experiences.

The show itself was much less weird than I expected but that is probably more a reflection on my tastes in modern dance than it is on the show.

Most of the dancers were on the stage most of the time and they were mostly doing different things so there was always a choice of what to look at. 

The costumes, each was different, very much helped with the visuals and knowing they were by Andreas Kronthalera, Vivienne Westwood's widow, you can guess what they were like. The poster helps too.

The music was composed my Mica Levi, not a name I knew but the style was similar to some of the Bang on a Can composers I do know, such as Michael Gordon.

The music was loud and the choreography by Holly Blakey was exuberant and expressive with lots of movement which made it a fun to watch. However, it also lacked something to make it rise above mere (?) entertainment. As one review I read put it "f you’re a creative but not primarily in dance, I think most would consider it the dog’s bollocks. But if you’re a dance aficionado, it’s probably a bit tiresome".

I am glad that I was almost forced into seeing Cowpuncher My Ass at Royal Festival Hall and as it was effectively free I can have no complaints over an entertaining 75 minutes.