Freefall at Platform Theatre Review
Written by Paris for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Watching FREEFALL, I couldn’t help but reflect once again on a contradiction I live with as an audience member: I don’t know how people can dance — this is something beyond me. I always struggled with my own body, unable to maintain even the most basic rhythm, always feeling sloppy and all over the place. And yet, no other form of theatre moves me as deeply as dance and physical theatre. There’s something about bodies in motion that expresses meaning and emotion in a way words never could. This is where Gesture Silhouette Lab and Hooray Culture LTD’s FREEFALL both shines and stumbles.
Directed and choreographed by Congwu Bi, with artistic direction from Yuke Chen, the show draws from the Yi folklore epic The Twelve Lineages of Snow, a creation myth about twelve ancient clans descending from snow and mountains, each carrying their own traditions, struggles, and transformations. Rooted in the cultural heritage of the Yi people of China, both the tale and the show, explore themes of survival, migration, power, submission, identity, and the tension between tradition and modernity. It asks timely questions about how we keep heritage alive while adapting in a globalised world. The challenge of maintaining one’s roots while integrating into the fragmented rhythm of modern cities like London is beautifully embedded in the show’s strongest moments.
Where FREEFALL really succeeds is in its physical storytelling. The dancers (Congfang Xiao, James Shing Mu Cheng, Siyuan Zhang, Vivien Meng, Xintian Zhao and Yu Ai), alongside Chengxi Fu and Yu Ke, deliver captivating performances. From the haunting opening, where they imitate birds and other animals in a primal, hypnotic sequence, to the memorable "club scene," where they embody hedonism, narcissism, and loneliness, the show grips you immediately. In this club-like scene, dancers move violently until exhaustion, leaving one by one the stage — an evocative metaphor for modern isolation and the struggle to connect. These highlights manage to translate complex ideas into raw emotion, making the audience feel the challenge of belonging and transformation.
The visual and aural design elevates the show further. Yuke Chen’s costumes feel fresh and inventive, hovering between tradition and contemporary kitsch in a way that perfectly suits the piece’s identity themes. The lighting by Xiaoran Luo and projections by LJ add an almost cinematic texture, while the music (composed by J.) blends traditional motifs with a modern soundscape, maintaining a balance between past and present. This combination gives the piece a richness and helps ground its emotional journey.
However, FREEFALL struggles with structure and focus. The biggest misstep is the heavy-handed prologue, where a narrator explains the show’s philosophical questions and themes in exhausting detail. Dance and physical theatre thrive on ambiguity and interpretation, but here, the over-explanation drains some of the magic before it even begins. Throughout the show, moments of narration continue to feel as if they mistrust the audience’s ability to understand through movement and imagery alone. The subtitles (as the performance is in Chinese) are often too dense and fast to follow, forcing the audience to choose between reading and watching — a frustrating distraction, especially in a dance piece.
Finally, not all sections land equally well. While two of the central dance sequences captivate with both performance and thematic weight, others rely mainly on the undoubted charisma of the dancers rather than contributing meaningfully to the emotional arc. Props and set pieces sometimes feel underused, missing opportunities to deepen the narrative thread.
Still, considering that FREEFALL is the work of emerging artists, this is a visually striking and ambitious piece of dance theatre. There is just so much talent here. The creative team shows serious potential, and when the show finds its rhythm, it’s powerful and affecting. For anyone interested in seeing what new voices in physical theatre have to offer, especially if you’re drawn to Chinese folklore and contemporary identity themes, this is a production worth experiencing. Despite its flaws, FREEFALL adds to an important conversation and leaves me curious, even excited, to see where this company will go next.
Performed at the Platform Theatre on 7 May 2025
★★★.5
