Theo Adams Company – a counteraction to all that Christmas glitz

After sold out performances in Tokyo, 2009 and Austria at the beginning of this year, Theo Adams and his performance collective finally returned to their London home for a two night run at the ICA.

GoSee followed a trail of red metallic ticker tape spread in snow and discarded fag buts along the royal mall to the ICA entrance. Trashy glitz? We knew this had to be something good.

And Theo Adams certainly didn’t disappoint. In what felt like just 15 minutes, but was in fact approaching an hour and a half, we were transported to a red, glittery world, full of glamour and darkness. A welcome antidote to all the dazzle of Christmas decorations and forced commercial happiness currently enveloping the city.

The performance was a rapture of the company’s many talents; an intoxicating cocktail of music, visuals, performance art, drama and dance. The piece told the story of the tragic Hollywood star, similar to Gloria Swanson’s unsettling portrayal of fictional faded silent movie Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. It was a surreal impression of how our love of celebrity runs parallel along a strange joy at seeing them fall and the consequent emotional madness this can lead to. The piece ended with a cast of Theo Adam’s signature angry faces covered in glitter, screaming with emotion and passion.

GoSee was also pleased to spot our favourite member of the Irrepressibles (as reported by GoSee) – Jordan Hunt, an active member of the company, in charge of the show’s musical supervision. The film projections were directed by London artist Matthew Stone and renowned performance artist and DJ Scottee also starred.

Theo Adams, born in London 1989, left school at just 15 to pursue his passion for performance and founded the Theo Adams Company, a true life force for contemporary performance art.

If you were not amongst the lucky 400 people that attended the performances this weekend (we were also treated to hand numbered souvenir programmes, that fold out into a poster), you can watch the videos on http://theoisamazing.blogspot.com.

We also recommend their shop, for Christmas presents such as a Theo Adams tour t-shirt and set of 4 signed postcards, shot by David Sims. Also, why not brush off any Scrooge like instincts and support their work with a festive donation to the unfunded company.