The pitiable subject of young Eastern European women ending up in the British sex trade does not lend itself easily, one might imagine, to interpretative dance. Yet this whimsical devised piece from promising female trio The Paper Birds indulges in a heady amount of artful gestures, before mercifully pulling itself together and exploring these woeful lots with empathy and skill.
Even when it’s on track, the inventive work remains elliptical. Movement, written script, vox pops, music and video projections, not to mention cunningly deployed coloured buttons and battered suitcases, are blended to form a powerful, impressionistic snapshot of something that might be happening down the road from us.
Elle Moreton, Jemma McDonnell and Kylie Walsh have certainly done their research; one particularly grisly section offers the statistics, which are all the more devastating for being delivered so matter-of-factly, of the multiple rapes undergone by one woman on arrival in this country.
The bruises the performers sport attest to the way they literally throw themselves into the project with commendably committed turns, writhing about the stage initially in their matching Foyle’s War-style dresses, and then in their underwear. With a slightly more rigorous editing process, this company could go places.
Until 16 May (020 7478 0100,
www.sohotheatre.com).
In A Thousand Pieces
Soho Theatre
Dean Street, W1D 3NE
