Tabac Rouge

Physical theater virtuoso James Thierrée (Raoul, 2010 Next Wave; Au Revoir Parapluie, 2007 Next Wave) is a limber-limbed despot lording over a cockeyed band of subordinates in this smoke-and-mirror filled “choreodrama,” which pushes his inimitable craft firmly into the territory of dance-theater. Below a sprawling steel trellis slung with tarnished glass, Thierrée glides with impeccable gestural control through a steampunk dystopia filled with I-beams, overwrought machinery, tasseled lamps, and deconstructed pianos. At his charismatic bidding, the nine contorting virtuosos of Compagnie du Hanneton crawl, climb, and quite literally bend to Thierrée’s will in this wordless evocation of absolute power levied by a lithe tyrant king.