Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch/Two Cigarettes in the Dark, Sadler’s Wells - review

It’s fair to assume there were a few Valentine’s dates going on at the opening night of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch's current London stint.

Funny, because Bausch, the late dance theatre pioneer, has to be one of the least romantic choreographers out there. The sex is never tender, the women spend a lot of time screaming, and the men are all caught up in absurd, unfathomable obsessions. It’s not first flush of love stuff, more like a lifetime commitment.

A work originally made in 1985, Two Cigarettes in the Dark has the usual stunning set from designer Peter Pabst — a room of tall white walls cut with a window onto lush jungly greenery. It’s the arid versus the verdant; nature versus civilisation.

After the first act’s initial angst has died down, the piece lightens up, and is studded with tiny delights: a tender moment where a man draws a lipstick kiss on his hand, cheek and mouth, and invites someone else’s lips to meet it; a beautifully slow, still scene with ladies in ballgowns repeatedly gliding down a makeshift slide; a farcical interlude with an irate caveman.

But it’s mainly a long, aimless journey ending with the feeling of the Titanic going down, all desperate embraces and cocktails (and some of us gasping for air).

If you’re a Pina fan you’ll love it; if not, this might not be the work to change your mind.

Until Sun Feb 17. The company also performs Vollmond Feb 22-25 (0844 412 4300, sadlerswells.com)