Boing at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

If you’re yet to get into the Christmas spirit then all you need is a healthy dose of Boing. The Travelling Light’s 50-minute, two-man show, is short, sharp and infectiously festive. Opening in the Lilian Baylis studio of the Sadler’s Wells theatre, the pithily scripted and beautifully choreographed Boing leaves its audience happier for having seen the performance.

Set on Christmas Eve, Boing follows energetic duo Joel (Joel Daniel) and Wilkie (Wilkie Branson) as they wait for Father Christmas to arrive and fill up their stockings. From stealing each other’s teddies, having a pillow fight and hiding under the bed, to sailing in a sheet-made boat, having a midnight feast and making a den, the couple utterly capture the essence of youth.

Daniel and Branson, who designed their routines, shift effortlessly from slow to fast-moving sequences, with agility only professional dancers can have. What’s more, the dancing was brilliantly woven into the performance; there wasn’t a pause and then “oh, perhaps we should dance now.” However, it was the break-dancing scene, though perhaps not quite following the same pattern, which was absolutely electrifying. The stage succumbed to darkness as Daniel and Branson illuminated miniature bulbs of red and green on their heads, hands, knees and feet. Beatbox tunes swept through the air and the pair began to dance. Flips, swings, cartwheels and spins threw the audience into an excited frenzy: how were these moves humanly possible?

From darkness back into light, to a final message stating “If you want Santa to come then you have to go to bed,” from Wilkie, the show sadly came to an end. A 50-minute escape, where you cannot help but regress to the happier times of youth, when you could be transfixed by the simpler things in life, Boing is an absolute joy to watch.

Alice Audley

Boing! is at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre until 31^st December 2012. For further information or to book visit the show’s website here.