Review: Peeping Tom's DIPTYCH: THE MISSING DOOR AND THE LOST ROOM at Ottawa's National Arts Centre

OTTAWA

Multiple award-winning Belgian dance theatre company, Peeping Tom, brought a new style of dance to Ottawa this week, displaying their signature blend of dance, theatre, and acrobatics with their production of Diptych: The Missing Door and The Lost Room at the National Arts Centre. Caroline Ohrt, Executive Producer of NAC Dance, saw a Peeping Tom production several years ago, and that experience stayed with her. That is why, upon taking up the helm of NAC Dance two years ago, her first invitation to an international company was to Peeping Tom. The NAC’s presentation of Diptych: The Missing Door and The Lost Room marks the company’s first foray into Canada.

Attempting to describe the experience is difficult because it is unlike anything I have seen before, but I’ll do my best... Seeing Diptych: The Missing Door and The Lost Roomis like finding yourself enclosed in a dark chamber filled with impressions intended to stimulate the senses and blur the lines between dream and reality. Diptych successfully captures the essence of a surrealist, fantasy-horror film - with its macabre lighting (designed by Tom Visser) and disconcerting music (sound dramaturgy by Raphaëlle Latini), combined with carefully calculated action sequences and facial expressions (direction by Gabriella Carrizo and Franck Chartier), and punctuated by sweeping dance and acrobatic movements.

Read the full review here.