Monkey!
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds – June 19, 2008
 
Kevin Berry

The ancient Chinese story of the Monkey King is getting quite a lot of attention this year. Originally a Ming dynasty novel called Journey to the West it was made into a television show in the 1970s and the series – which is now available on DVD – has an enthusiastic cult following. The West Yorkshire Playhouse production of Monkey! is quite spectacular. It has a great deal of aerial work and gorgeous colours. Performers are on high silks, a trapeze, static ropes and dangling ropes, and performer Wendy Hesketh spends much of her time on stage attached to a bungee rope. She makes some beautiful moves. All of the performers make getting into the air seem effortless. Indeed Hesketh rarely has her feet on the ground.
Hesketh is one half of Wired Aerial Theatre, the other half being her partner Jamie Ogilvie. The pair have invented what they call “bungee-assisted dance” for which they have also devised a vocabulary. Hesketh seems to soar into the air without restriction, but when she has to be still, there is hardly a flicker from her. Hesketh is a graduate of London School of Contemporary Dance and she previously performed with the De La Guarda company. She wanted to soar and hover during her dancing career. She wanted freedom, but when she tried working with ropes she found there was not enough of it. Then she and Ogilvie hit on the idea of using a bungee. Ogilvie stands in the wings pulling at ropes connected to Hesketh’s bungee. He is strong but he doesn’t have to be, as his pulling is more in the way of guidance. The system they use is simply two linked counterbalances, and the bungee equipment for this show can be packed into a reasonably sized suitcase.
In Monkey! Hesketh plays Tripitaka, a monk charged with an epic journey to the West to find sacred Buddhist scriptures. She travels with the mischievous Monkey, played by Jami Reid-Quarrell. Both performers are attached to ropes, and when they skim over land and water the effect is breath-taking, almost like a sequence from a quality cartoon. Hesketh hovers, twists and twirls and then rises four metres off the ground. She can skim over a lily pond. Nothing she does is cumbersome, everything is smooth and calm – the bungee rope can be seen but is unobtrusive. Hesketh is able to fly above most of the huge Quarry Theatre stage and do whatever she wants. Demons have to be scattered, of course, and the character of Tripitaka does this with some beautifully executed martial moves. How long will it be before we see bungee-assisted dance in a pantomime or a production of Peter Pan?
Having written at length about bungee-assisted dance, it would be unfair to close without saying how funny this adaptation is and also how respectful. Monkey! has super costumes and dreamy scenery, but with a running time of just two hours including interval, the show is a little on the short side.