Theatre Review: Progress, Zoo Playground, Edinburgh

The interactive arcade game Dance Dance Revolution spread like wildfire across the world after its release in Japan in 1998. In this new work by theatre company Trip Hazards – which was behind last year’s show Love Songs by Alissa Anne Jeun Yi, who also worked on this show – the game becomes a metaphor for friendship, working together, trying, failing and much else besides.

Progress turns Dance Dance Revolution into a metaphor for life.

Progress, Zoo Playground, Edinburgh ***

Performers and co-creators Nikhil Vyas and Jasmine Price dance in a variety of ways in the show, with differing degrees of competence, from attempted ballet moves to the Nintendo Wii version of Dance Dance Revolution (at this point, the show is put on hold for several minutes while everyone looks for the Wii remote).

Nikhil and Jasmine are likeable and engaging performers, even if the show’s content is disjointed and occasionally puzzling. Text in which they visualise a utopia animated by dance, then, later, attempt to envisage one another’s futures, suggests lively interrogation of deep themes. One is left with the sense that there are some excellent ideas in Progress, but they are in danger of being lost in a miasma of movement.

Until 17 August

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