New work from 2Faced, the acclaimed Hereford-based, all-male dance company, is always cause for celebration and the new double bill, Dreaming in Code, delivers on all fronts.

2Faced founder, artistic director and award-winning choreographer Tamsin Fitzgerald’s new work, Lucid Grounds, is joined by milk night, a piece created by Eddie Kay for Frantic Assembly – two contrasting pieces that offer all the excitement, innovation and food for thought that are the trademark of 2Faced.

Eddie Kay’s milk night invited us to consider what a world without women would mean to men, refracted through the experiences of the five dancers as they each offered us their unique vision. The result of a piece that incorporated elements of physical theatre was five very different narratives, each exposing something personal and intimate, frightening or moving. The use of tents from which the dancers emerged and to which they repeatedly returned highlighted the sense of them being in a fight for survival, with the echoes of men abandoned in the wild to find their way home. A cleverly designed soundtrack ensured perfect harmony, with the individual tracks serving as a shorthand for the issue being explored in dance, and sharply defining the change of mood each time. That shift was particularly marked as the penultimate section – the infectious Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (with no big fat woman) faded with the dancers returning to the tents to be replaced with Billy Fury’s heartbreaking You Don’t Know providing the backing for the most unsettling element of the piece, serving as counterpoint to the dancer’s increasing distresss . With each of the five dancers taking centre stage in turn, the actions of the remaining four, whether in support or in judgement, invite the audience to consider their own feelings.

In contrast, Tamsin Fitzgerald’s Lucid Grounds was a physical exploration of mind and memory, in which a shimmering backdrop fragmented reflections to highlight the illusory nature of memory and lighting was used to create mood, as gold leeched away to leave something less warm, and dancers moved into spotlights that served as constantly moving stepping stones.

Tamsin had created ‘an environment in which music becomes a physical reality, reflections become memories and light leads us on a journey’. This was a piece that had all the hallmarks of 2Faced – and Tamsin’s vision and creativity are as distinctive as ever – Lucid Grounds isn’t limited to the physicality and dance talent brought to the stage by five dancers - its lyricism, wit and elegance ensure that it lingers in the memory.