Neel de Jong

Fringe 2 in 1 shows offer festival goers the opportunity to see unique musical and theatrical pairings as part of the same ticket. Tonight, Smock Alley played host to a 2 in 1 show featuring Neel de Jong, making her ABSOLUT FRINGE debut with F.L.O.W. and French singer-songwriter perrine de morceaux performing as Essais Emission.

F.L.O.W. (Fabulous, Lucky, Outrageous World) begins with Neel de Jong seated on the floor beneath a single soft red light bulb. de Jong is dressed as if she is in her dressing room, having just walked off stage to a standing ovation. However, we soon learn that our protagonist is a fading star; having shone so brightly beneath the lights of stage and screen, she is now faced with twin demons of isolation and fear.

What is unique about de Jong’s character is that she is very aware of her demise. We are, perhaps, her final audience and so there is no need for bravado now. Instead we witness a human being, stripped bare, and searching for solace at the bottom of a bottle and in the company of strangers. Yet, despite knowing that her time has passed, and warning her audience of the pitfalls of fame, one senses throughout F.L.O.W. that de Jong’s character is so addicted to fame that, given the choice, she would live her life the same way again. In this performance, the audience are not only asked to take a closer look at the true price of fame, but F.L.O.W., through powerful writing and intricate choreography, also demands we examine the very fabric of the human psyche. You leave this beautifully paced production wondering if it really is acceptable to place people on pedestals before casually discarding them just because there are countless numbers of people willing to accept that position.

Overall, this particular Fringe 2 in 1 represented not just excellent value for money but also showed that, with a little creative curation, it is possible to combine two seemingly disparate performances in a distinctive and enjoyable way.

Review F.L.O.W 2009 Edinburgh MARY BRENNAN, (The Herald), 18 Aug ****

'Okay folks - let's hear it for the renegades, the eccentrics, the freespirited talents that cluster under the banner of dance and physical theatre, but are really looking to make work that transcends boundaries. Without them, the Fringe would lose some of the magical serendipity that leaves audiences feeling - knowing - that they've witnessed something different and special that has possibly changed their outlook forever more'.

I have no idea if the Neel de Jong show you should try to see, will be the same F.L.O.W. (****) I watched last week at Bedlam. Chances are de Jong herself doesn't know, because her whole being - and her whole being pours into her on-stage performance - acts as a litmus, or a chameleon, in response to the world as she sees it at any given moment. Her interests just now seem to focus on the small things, the simple things that can only be appreciated if you take time to stop, stare and play. Consciously reconnecting with the wonder you felt as a child, de Jong has an exquisite capacity for radiating just such a sense of beguiled, beaming pleasure and amazement. Like any form of meditation - and really, this is at the heart of what de Jong offers - it demands that you focus on what is being said and shown. Otherwise the ragbag assortment of actions, the little paper boats and white balloons, will arrive like bits of forgotten debris that de Jong has rummaged from her costume (and memory's) pockets. Fabulous. Lucky. Outrageous. World. F.L.O.W. Go with it, and you'll come out smiling - even the rain and the roadworks won't seem so grim.

Reviews 'Driven' 2008

MARY BRENNAN (The Herald) 22 aug ****

Blame it not on the bossa nova, but on my handwriting: I misread my notes and thought that Neel de Jong had left town when actually she'd shifted venue mid-stint to 10am at Bedlam. Sometimes it feels as if de Jong arrived in this world with not enough skin covering her nerve ends. She reacts, like a living litmus, to her surroundings - to whatever events or people she encounters at any given time - and Driven epotimises that random spontaneity. Her opening lullaby-lament - accompanied by pianist Augusto Pirodda - traces the effect urban decay has on her moods: not just buildings, but humankind and passers-by appear grey, ugly, hostile, derelict. It depresses her, then angers her. And then she dances. Always she looks like an overgrown urchin - and indeed always she retains a child-like capacity for wonderment. Her body language eases. Her smile returns, beatific. She thanks us. Our being there has restored her optimism. Her constant battle to overcome disenchantment and her willingness to risk audience rejection by being open and vulnerable is like a blessing to the day.
Ends tomorrow

LAURA PEEBLES (the Three Weeks) 17 aug. *****

As you go in, the small theatre is completely dark, apart from a few dimmed spotlights. On stage, sitting in the middle of her bin bags, is a crazy old bag lady chanting and swaying. After a few minutes, the mumbled chanting suddenly, becomes audible, with words and sentences thrown in there too. The seemingly crazy ramblings start to become meaningful, poignant and truthful. She then works herself into a frenzied dance, accompanied only by the haunting tune of a piano. Neel de Jong transports us to a beautifully different world in this short performance; magical and profound, 'Driven' will leave you with a sense of wondrous calm. It is like nothing you will have seen before.

ARTSPY UK 18 aug. *****

This is a magical show, inspiring, uplifting and deeply thought provoking. De Jong explores the dark side of womanhood in an idiosyncratic fusion of dance and poetry. Beginning as a bag-lady lost in her own world, she gradually involves the audience using expressionistic gesture and utterance. This seamlessly moves on to poetry and song drawing the audience into her own world. Augusto Pirroda improvising on piano has a spare score which surfaces late in the performance but his swaying presence just off stage in shadow adds to the intensity of the performance. This is performance theatre at its best, I was left speechless and drained.

TINA JACKSON (Metro) 17 aug. ****

Neel De Jong's short solo piece is a life-affirming way to start the day. The Dutch physical theatre and live art performer puts on a show about overcoming the limitations of age and fear that is spirited, generous and extraordinarily touching.

She's a defiant oddball, deliberately outlandish, as she sits in silence, slumped on the stage in her striped tights and woolly hat in front of a mirror, chuntering wordlessly. But as the piece gathers pace, De Jong gets up and, accompanied on the piano by Augusto Pirodda, begins to move in a dance that is initially tentative and graceful but increasingly becomes so frantic it seems she is trying to exorcise something from within herself.

De Jong's artistry is stunning: age and oddity fall away so that all you see is the beautiful physicality of her movement. Even more impressive is her humanity and the way she uses her body to communicate how the spirit can triumph over age and loneliness.

At the end, she moves into the audience, touching them gently on their shoulders and whispering to them. 'Sometimes I like people,' she told me quietly, as if she was confiding a secret. 'Sometimes,' I heard her tell my neighbour, 'I think life is beautiful.' This lovely piece helps make it so. Until Aug 23, Bedlam Theatre (V49), 10am. www.bedlamfringe.co.uk

JACKIE FLETCHER (British Theatre Guide) 8 aug. ****

In layers of brightly-coloured gauze petticoats, stripy stockings and lace-up boots, Neel de Jong sends us mixed and disturbing signals about the complexity of womanhood. A child in the body of a middle-aged woman; a flamboyantly sexual body that is turning to wrinkles; a body to be loved or abused, beaten or cherished, de Jong strikes a chillingly resonant cord with her impressive stage presence.

As her psychologically tangled character flaunts the socially acceptable, de Jong breaks all the bog standard rules of performance, the expectations of spectators in unnerving fashion. This is performance art rather than theatre or dance and one never quite knows what to expect from her next. One can only be drawn in, respond moment by moment, emotionally and without mediation from rational processes. It is immediate and raw and she insinuates herself into private spaces one can't ignore. The thwarted energy, the defiance, the self-denigration, the pain, the reaching out are all there and the performance is improvised and changes every night, adding to its immediacy. Accompanied by Augusto Pirroda, improvising on piano, the performance is just 30 intense minutes with a tight sweep moving from quiet gentleness to emotional turmoil, from interiority to connectedness. It packs a punch and I only felt the full impact, a gut reaction, when I was standing at the bus stop on Nicolson Street . It left me confused and amazed and wanting to go back for more.

Neel de Jong is a Dutch performance artist with a remarkably individual background in (physical) theatre and dance. As a performer and teacher she has worked in a variety of styles from traditional actors training to Hopi-Indian rites and African dance and percussion passing through the Laban Institute for Movement and Dance in London and the Academy for Expression through Word and Gesture in the Netherlands on the way. She is utterly unique and it is difficult to put a classification on anything she does except to say that it is ongoing experimentation, research into the full potential for expressive, unusual and meaningful connections with spectators.

Driven is a generous performance that leaves a lasting impression. It leaves the spectator with images and feelings that are personalised. I can recommend it to those who like to be challenged.

Reviews Moving Landscape 2007

KIRSTIN INNES (preview) The List magazine, August 1 2007

In video clips on her website, Neel de Jong stands in an empty studio space. Her long tweed frock coat and eye goggles recall Mr Toad; her static, silent demeanour does not. She makes a tiny, polite motion with her head that her body eventually picks up on and repeats. Finally, she opens her mouth to emit a low primal moan. ‘I was thinking about the frustration of being at a tea party,’ says de Jong. ‘At the end you would just have to scream!’

It’s these small, spontaneous,very human moments where the façade bursts that interest de Jong. Her work changes with every performance, because she has stopped imposing structure upon herself. Improvising with the pianist Augusto Pirodda (‘I ask him not to play music that he already knows. When musicians do that, they are dead’), de Jong externalises a series of inner worlds for her audience. ‘I like Edinburgh,’ she says. ‘I feel that the people are really ready for this kind of work.’

MARY BRENNAN (recensie) The Herald, August 15 2007

Neel de Jong would instinctively recognise and applaud what the women in the company, Little Dove Theatre Art (Australia) are up to - her own work resonates with what it's like to live on the margins, misunderstood at best and ignored or ostracised at worst. Moving Landscape sees her, resolutely outlandish, in tiers of tulle skirt, soft bootees, voluminous jacket and with her hair caught up in spiky tufts - and she's dancing.

She uses finely nuanced body language, gestures and facial expressions to deliver a narrative of valiant endeavours, crushing rejections, mistreatment and abuse that drives her into paroxysms of unstoppered rage - all totally unmistakable, even without her pianist's appropriate support.

She breaks off to tell us that, really, she is sweet - demonstrates it with shows of twinkling, naive coquettishness before singing a ditty Björk would cheer for its heartfelt affirmation of how good it is to be alive. Again, the show only lasts some 30 minutes - just long enough to reveal de Jong's total artistry, humanity and generosity of spirit. She's gone, like a summer swallow - if we're lucky, she'll come back next year.

Review Inner Landscape 2006

MARY BRENNAN (recensie)
The Herald, August 11 2006

At first sight, Neel de Jong looks a tad off-putting - a bag lady with a silent stare that screams "whaddya lookin' at" attitude. But, in fact, this Dutch performance artist is one of those genial, life- affirming presences whose gentle rigmarole of unpacking a bag - offering food,nuggets of philosophy - is like an oasis of kindly eccentricity in a Fringe awash with self-absorbed posers. It's a mere half-hour in length, a wee gem, but hurry -there's not long to go.