Young Critics Collective: Manchester Collective & Thick & Tight: Papillons

Papillons’ grandeur is communicated through gentleness, humanity and care. Walking into the theatre, we see all four performers already on stage, seated and looking quietly out at the audience — not yet in their own world but easing us all in together. As the hum of the audience settles, the lights lower softly. We are introduced to each of them individually including visual descriptions and captions. These small and deliberate details continue throughout and mark the immense care put into all that follows.

Cellist Laura van der Heijden pulled her bow across the instrument’s body, and it hit me deep in the stomach. Deep, rounded and sonorous, its human voice carries intimacy and sensuous warmth. In the first of three movements of CHAINES’ new work ‘oysters sing of silkworms’, Laura fully embodies the notes from the score. The melodies flow through her body extending through every limb, swaying as one with the cello. Listening intently with my eyes closed, there is no distinction between human and object; they are singing as one.

This performance is a collaboration between the dance duo Thick & Tight and Manchester Collective, featuring The Camberwell Incredibles. As with Laura and her cello, they are forces of art on their own but in collaboration, they become a union of radical cultural production. Experimental staging, music excellence, innovation, breaking social stigma, and ambition in the arts are only some of a barrage of accolades I could describe this group with. Contemporary dancers Dan and El forge an asymmetrical but deep synchronicity exemplifying their individual force. The Camberwell Incredibles add to this as an arts collective of disabled artists, appearing on film: drawing and dancing, creating and communicating. There is no individual sacrifice made or necessary leaning towards a middle point, but rather they have all found a connection shared between them. As different as we all are, we can always find a shared point of overlap, there’s always integration in our humanity and our art.

We all experience music in different ways, as our bodies and minds process it through feeling, seeing and hearing. Papillons creates access for all these different ways as well as inviting us to try new ways of experiencing. As well as listening to the various scores we can see the rhythms and tones of the notes being played by projected shapes at the back of the stage that pulsate and shift colour with frequency. The narrow cylinders of light framing Cee Haines and Laura change with the note rhythms, brightening and darkening too. As new sections of music introduce different phrases and emotions, they are descriptively portrayed through projected captions that have previously talked us through Laura’s playing techniques. These include ponticello, trills, glissando, and tremolo which make the music accessible to a larger audience allowing us all to be intimately part of the experience as receivers of the work.

The abundance of ways into the work could occasionally make it difficult to know where to rest your attention. It can in moments be heavy on the senses particularly as the work is directed to an audience that may have a lot of sensory sensitivity. This could be navigated by closing your eyes as I did to take in certain senses in isolation, and Papillons explicitly invites you to experience it on your own terms. But a little more space to appreciate different elements might elevate their impact and reduce an overwhelm of art.

Kaija Saariaho’s eponymous ‘Sept Papillons’ shimmers with a quiet but aggressive intensity. The frantic, shaking tremolo of Laura’s bow at her cello’s bridge mimics hundreds of wings beating together. This is in conversation with Imogen Holst’s gentler ‘The Fall of the Leaf’ which showcases quick-fingered pizzicato that Laura repeats and sinks into, allowing us to take in her presence, the lights, the colours, and the film. Performers onstage and The Camberwell Incredibles on film, name the raindrops and wind, that they experience in the piece. Papillons focuses our attention to ecology, rooting us in connection with our planet and how we are a part of nature. It doesn’t force any apocalyptic call to action but trusts us with its focus instead.

By the final movements of oysters sing of silkworms, electronics and vocal processing are woven into the cello’s sound, and Laura stands to play her electric cello. As if with the technological developments through the passing of time, the instrument has lost its wooden body and is a sleek spine of its former self. The sound she produces, however, remains ancestral. It evokes tidal caves, ancient epics, the long tradition of music as transmission across generations. Out of chrysalis, the music stretches its wings into deep electronic reverb, the human hand twisting and adjusting on the sound board. This is a work of human connection, an excitingly ambitious and safe place to reflect on who we are as individuals and a community, handled with care and intention. In this space we can make radical change pushing against social stigma and creative boundaries. We create through each other like the cello and its player, and shift in dappled light like the iridescence of an oyster.

Papillons is a distinctive production that melds classical music with visual art and insightful conversation. It is a collaboration between the classical music ensemble Manchester Collective, the dance theatre company Thick and Tight, and the multimedia artist CHAINES. Accompanying them are the Camberwell Incredibles, a collective of learning-disabled artists. This performance consists of three classical pieces performed by the cellist Laura van der Heijden, with electronic accompaniment from CHAINES. The titular piece, Sept Papillons (Seven Butterflies), was composed by Kaija Saariaho, who provides commentary on the creative process throughout. Alongside Sept Papillons, the other featured classical pieces were the serene Oysters Sing of Silkworms by CHAINES and The Fall of the Leaf by Imogen Holst, which begins deceptively calmly before building powerfully.

Thick and Tight, consisting of Daniel Hay-Gordon and El Perry, wonderfully complemented the classical pieces with dance choreography. The Incredibles are seen on screen engaging in creative expression and play, often communicating the feelings evoked by the music. Papillons is made accessible through the use of captions and audio descriptions, creating an inclusive environment for visually and hearing-impaired audience members.

From the beginning, there was an intimacy between the performance and the audience, as though the boundaries between them had been softened. An introduction was given by each performer on stage, as well as on screen by the Incredibles. The audience instantly fell in love with each performer’s idiosyncratic delivery, each bubbling with personality and garnering a mix of cheers and laughter. This established a welcoming environment in which everyone was encouraged to experience the performance in whatever way suited them.

After the opening piece, there was a comical interview in which Daniel and El took on the roles of Laura and CHAINES, mimicking them while their recorded voices played. This was particularly memorable because many audience members struggled to control their laughter. During the musical performances, red, blue, and purple lighting illuminated the stage and washed over the screen. Each colour was triggered by different tones, creating a dynamic visual spectacle that amplified the music’s emotional depth. Thick and Tight did a stellar job of communicating the music through the language of their bodies, capturing subtle shifts in intensity. All these different dimensions created a multi-layered narrative that enthralled the audience from beginning to end without sacrificing immersion.

Papillons is a breath of fresh air that experiments with how classical music can be experienced. The layers of narrative introduced through insights into the creative process, alongside the creative spontaneity of the Incredibles, added a welcome degree of depth and intimacy. This was achieved without diminishing the audience’s own interpretations; rather, it encouraged greater appreciation and exploration. This multi-layered narrative presentation of classical music is a special experience that many theatre creatives would benefit from experimenting with.