Electric Hotel is a uniquely designed outdoor spectacle, a fly-by-night hotel brought vividly to life through dance and sound by the team of David Rosenberg (director and co-founder of Shunt) and Frauke Requardt (choreographer), with Börkur Jónsson (designer).

The weird and wonderful Electric Hotel appeared, as if by magic, against the desolate backdrop of the Level. Tickets were free and were gone in hours. It looked real and the production values on this project are sky high.  The action takes place in a four storey temporary structure, 20 meters wide by 14 meters high. It has a total load of 48 tonnes, and looks as substantial as it sounds. Very clever and interesting use of lighting and glass gives the idea of sitting on the outside looking in, the audience snatching glimpses of the do-not-disturb lives unfolding behind the floor to ceiling windows.  

We were all given a pair of wireless headphones to wear which gives the vivid impression of being part of-and also alone-at the same time. Wearing headphones to eavesdrop on the internal spaces of the building we watched the residents in their private rooms: the natural habits, the unnatural fantasies and housekeeping of wildly varied quality. The soundscape and music was wonderful and played about with perceptions in a fun way.

It was beautiful, odd and slightly sinister, with wonderful echoes of  ‘Rear Window’ and other voyeuristic films of that nature.  I had five narratives running in my head and tried to make sense of what was happening, nothing fitted and I was left impressed but slightly bemused by what was going on, but this was a dance piece essentially so the movements were more important than the meaning. 

The dancers were surreal and stunning in equal measure and all the separate parts recombining into a seemingly looped series of events. With some very funny moments of surreal interactions with doors opening and closing all round the hotel and the seemingly same performer appearing all over the place at the same time, subverting ideas of connection, direction and reality.

This was a well thought out and brilliant inventive work as well as presenting some of the finest young contemporary dancers working at Saddlers Wells at the moment.

They are touring around for a while and this team deserves to be applauded for bringing such high standard dancers to the Brighton Festival for free. 

A delightfully strange and beautiful evening out.

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