Wales Millennium Centre
It is one of my eternal regrets that I just missed out by just a few years on the rave scene that brought people together in sweet harmony across disused buildings and random fields across the UK between the late 80s and early 90s. People my age missed out because the Tory Government of the time decided all this dancing, peace, love and generally getting on malarkey was a bad thing and must be stopped. They stopped it by legislating the rave scene out of existence with the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 which effectively outlawed ‘large gatherings with repetitive music.’
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is a production that takes the audience right back to those heady times when the possibilities of the night ahead, in a location yet to be disclosed, seemed endless. It was also a time when mobile phones were only the preserve of London stock brokers and resembled house bricks so public telephone boxes and pagers were used to spread the word about the latest gathering at the last possible moment, which no doubt heightened the excitement for all concerned.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats captures that excitement during those times deftly. Brought together by Darren Emerson (not the Underworld one), this is a totally immersive show that contains a staggering attention to detail. By incorporating aspects such as the rave flyers of the time, signature songs from the rave scene, the Peugeot 205 of the era that you ‘drive’ down the motorway in, or the Kenwood hi-fi in the bedroom you hang around with your ‘virtual’ mates in, you soon find yourself getting totally lost in this experience. Aided by a harness that fits around your chest to vibrate in sync with the music and other happenings in the show, your senses soon convince your brain that you are no longer in a theatre space but back in the late 1980s and having the time of your life.
‘In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats’ also contains interviews with many of the key players in the rave scene at the time to give a flavour of what things were like behind the mass gatherings. They describe things such as how the arrangements were made, the challenges they faced in keeping the police from breaking up the party and how speed was of the essence once the word was out. There is even an interview with someone from the police whose job it was to stop the parties before too many people had gathered. The meticulous research, access and work that went into putting this show together across the board is staggering.
From the very first moment featuring a needle drop on vinyl to an Orbital song (who were named after the M25 motorway which was a logistical key to many an outdoor rave during the scene) to the final scene at a packed warehouse rave, my jaw was on the floor for much of this show. It was a mind blowing experience that I will treasure for a long time and made me want to repeat it instantly. I only hope I did not embarrass myself too much with some of the dance moves I deployed during the show!
This show closes on Sunday at the WMC so you do not have long to catch it. You will not regret it if you decide to go.