Hooligan Art Community's Bunker Cabaret at Somerset House

A remarkable event in Somerset House this evening, Saturday 24 September. Bunker Cabaret, from Hooligan Art Community facilitated and co-directed by Peter Cant, collectively devised by actors and singers from Ukraine, based on material originally created in bomb-shelters in Kyiv. Powerful and moving, it is a reminder of the impact of simply delivered and direct songs combined with extraordinary movement and dance – dance and movement that expresses by turns agony and love. The themes of this varied evening included the sounds of war – memorably created vocally, offhand and humorously, yet bitterly reminding us that people live under war with unimaginable sounds of weaponised aircraft in attack; dispossession – losing everything, material possessions, partners – how do you retain identity; love – the solo actor embraced or shook hands with virtually every member of the audience; the meaning of dance; the Russian ‘victim’ addressed with immense irony. This was a reminder that radical performance art can be fierce, visceral, warm and communicative when working out of direct experience and with the deepest themes.