Dance / Reviews
Review: Elefantin, The Mount Without – ‘A mesmeric performance of a compelling narrative’
When I last reviewed a show by Impermanence, the Bristol based dance troupe based at The Mount Without, I described it as “brilliantly bonkers”.
The latest show in their refreshingly eclectic seasonal dance programme is all that. And more.
Elefantin is described as a surreal, razor-sharp dance satire of Barbie and modern femininity.
is needed now More than ever
The two-hander, created by, and part performed by Cree Barnett-Williams, uncovers Barbie’s image. She is now 66 years old and has said that she could “sell her dreamhouse, move to Switzerland, get fat, grow old and die”.
The show starts with Alessia Ruffolo as one Barbie in classic 1950s styling, as she awkwardly struggles to perfect a tiptoe across the stage. Her plastic limbs clearly hamper her moves.
With back projections of ever-increasing number of Barbies and underscored by music from Henry Mancini, The Kills and James Holden, we watch two Barbies clinging to an absurd version of body beauty.
Both performers’ long legs accentuate the artificiality of idealised attractiveness. Recordings of string voice boxes implore “let’s have a costume party” while they mouth increasingly desperate affirmations that they “’love being a fashion model”.
Well, they do until that breaks down. In an amusing mid-performance schism, Barnett-Williams, as one of the Barbies, stomps off stage and will not come back out despite Ruffolo banging on the dressing room door and pleading with her to return.
What began as a 10-minute sketch in 2019 has been developed into a 50-minute dance-theatre spectacle, and despite opening night being delayed by 25 minutes for last minute rehearsal, the show works brilliantly in this longer format.
The performance space in The Mount Without is superb, and the rococo flourishes inside the now smoke blackened but restored chapel make it the ideal place in which to showcase this darkly comic dance-theatre satire.
The message, albeit not an original one, is that homogeneity of beauty standards cannot last, not in Barbies heyday and certainly not today. The choreography is mesmeric, repetitive and often convoluted; appearing to be effortless makes for a compelling narrative.
The visuals are striking, not least when the Barbies pull on a pair of iconic white cat-eye sunglasses, before they finally deconstruct and then reconstruct themselves. To the strains of Peggy Lee’s song Is That All There Is they triumphantly reinvent themselves.
“Barbie was always everything – model, astronaut, girlfriend, career woman – but what happens when the fantasy crumbles?” says Barnett-Williams. “I wanted to explore when she takes off her heels, sits down, and wonders what she actually wants.”
Following a dynamic start to the season with Crashout, After All and Songs of the Bulbul, Elefantin continues Impermanence’s bold Spring/Summer 2025 programme.
The season will conclude with Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus by Oona Doherty – running July 9-10 – exploring masculinity, morality and nostalgia through powerful character transformations.
Photo: Mayfest
Elefantin is at The Mount Without on June 17-19 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available at www.themountwithout.co.uk. Follow Cree Barnett-Williams @creebw.
Main photo: Daniel Montenegro
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