Review: Fuerza Bruta, 'Aven'

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Fuerza Bruta – Aven

The Roundhouse, London

***

(All photos by Johan Persson)

 

The last time I went to The Roundhouse it was to see Deep Purple, a few years ago.  Then, we sat and sang and rocked out.  Now, we stood and, well, raved out.  I hadn’t heard of Fuerza Bruta (meaning 'brute force') before so had no idea what to expect.  ‘Aven’ is their new show, and their first seen in the UK for ten years. Upon arrival at the venue, there was a DJ playing music and we were all ushered in to stand on the main floor of the arena.  There were just a very few reserved seats for those unable to stand. 

 

 

The show started with a huge globe cascading across the ceiling, replete with three acrobats bouncing on and off it.  Thereafter, for the next 70 minutes, we were treated to a series of similar tricks: a woman in a water tank dangling from the ceiling (joined by a man outside the tank who mirrored her moves), a man writhing around in a high tube, a woman running through the air, attached to a crane, revolving butterflies, moving catwalks and finally a huge whale floating through the air.  Part of its stomach was a window so that we could see the two men inside, almost Jonah-like, operating its pitch and direction, with the audience reaching up to touch it.  We were sprayed by paper from a pinada box and doused in water and oxygen droplets.  In between these events, we had loud music, some provided by the cast themselves; three women and two men banging drums and singing.  The dancing, such as it is, came when members of the cast rolled through the crowd on a catwalk-cum-treadmill, dancing to the rave music.

 

 

All of the cast members are young, vibrant and multi-talented.  I must also give praise to the stage crew who made everything work flawlessly. 

 

 

I enjoyed this show, but I am not at all sure what, if anything, it’s supposed to mean.  There didn’t seem to be any theme glueing it together or even stringing it together.  It is simply a series of clever vignettes that make the audience go ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ and applaud loudly.  Having said this, it is a lot of fun and for anyone who wants to forget the misery of an English summer or yet another English football loss it is a fun and joyous tonic, but don’t expect anything deeper than that.  One of the cast introduced ‘Aven’ as ‘the happiest show in London’, and maybe that is just what is needed:  no more, no less.

 

 

‘Aven’ is at The Roundhouse until September.