Don Gnu – M.I.S All Night Long
With gentle blues music drifting over the stage empty other than a single lean-to of timber, enter stage left two men and a plank, negotiating corners, chairs and the audience, the space apparent where their cumbersome burden is to be placed but the men, in brown suits – adjusted with extra material to allow freedom of movement – teal shirts, sandals and chunky socks too intent on the other’s failure to collaborate to advance the project.
A Fringe fixture for ten years now in their customary residence of Zoo Southside where they have performed Tennis, Tourist, Walk Man and Raiders of the Grey Gold, the Men in Socks of the Danish dance and physical theatre company Don Gnu return with their showcase M.I.S All Night Long, originally performed at Dance Base on the Grassmarket, with company founders and choreographers Don (Jannik Elkær) and Gnu (Kristoffer Louis Andrup) returning in their established roles of John and Gunnar alongside Petras Lisauskas as El Mucho.
Masters of expression and movement, creating moments of balance and suspension, objects which defy gravity and a sunrise which changes its mind to become a sunset, the barefoot angel in their midst waving at them to catch their attention, it is a strange world where the incongruous collides, the expectation of dancers to be young and lithe belying the grace of the solidly built trio as they play scenarios accompanied by the Blue Danube, the Ode to Joy and a flamenco solo to a mariachi version of El Hotel California.
An inverted world where to slap a fellow man on the shoulder is acceptable but to touch the strap on his sandal is a much different matter, shifting weights of masculinity and dominance it is a joy to see strong men dance together so comfortably, strutting, mocking, assaulting each other with yoga balls and tangoing before rolling out the red carpet for the angel, granted his very own socks and sandals, an acceptance of the divine in the perfection of their offbeat art.
Don Gnu – M.I.S All Night Long continues at Zoo Southside until Sunday 30th August
