Bristol Beacon Review: Last and First Men by Neon Dance
Summary
Rating: ★★★★
Running Dates: September 26th 2025
Where to see it: Bristol Beacon
Duration: 65 mins (no interval)
Keywords: Empowering, Cinematic, Haunting
Photography by Parcifal Werkman
Review
At Bristol Beacon, Last and First Men arrived as a one of a kind performance. A haunting collision of film, music, and dance that blurred the boundaries between performance disciplines. This UK premiere remarkably, the only opportunity to witness Jóhann Jóhannsson’s final work with live score in this country was more than a screening; it was an act of transformation.
Based on Jóhannsson’s visionary film, completed posthumously by Yair Elazar Glotman, the performance unfurled as a sensory tapestry. Projected 16mm images of brutalist monuments, silent, monolithic relics from another age were paired with Tilda Swinton’s ethereal narration, her voice carrying the imagined testament of humanity’s distant descendants, speaking across two billion years of evolution. Against this vast backdrop, Neon Dance introduced a human element: physicality. Their choreography, both stark and fluid, grounded the cosmic scale of the narrative in the immediacy of the body.
The score, played live, deepened the experience immeasurably. Jóhannsson’s music has always conjured landscapes both intimate and monumental, and here it became the connective tissue between the alien and the familiar, between the distant future and the present moment in the auditorium. Each note seemed to resonate through the dancers’ movements, echoing through the cavernous space of the Beacon itself.
What emerged was neither film nor dance nor concert, but a rare fusion of all three a hybrid performance that felt as immersive as it was unclassifiable. The themes mortality, legacy, transformation were magnified by the work’s form, an elegy presented through mediums that refused to stand alone, insisting instead on interdependence.
Presented in collaboration with Encounters Film Festival, Last and First Men was as much an installation as a performance, an evening that asked its audience to dwell not just in spectacle, but in contemplation. It reminded us of art’s power to look forward while also urging us to reflect, to consider our place in the continuum of human history and what we leave behind.
At its close, the silence in the room felt heavy, almost sacred, a testament to the lasting impression of this extraordinary event. Last and First Men may tell the story of humanity’s future, but its resonance lies firmly in the now.
Standout Moment: The moment Neon Dance’s choreography seemed to wrestle with Jóhannsson’s score bodies flicking and folding as though they were the last species of humanity.
Similar Plays: I’ve never seen anything like this. Neon Dance don’t just perform alongside film and music, they fuse with it a collaboration that feels entirely new.
Last Impression: Neon Dance proved that even the smallest human gestures can ripple across two billion years!
Reviewed by Ella Hunter
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Disclaimer: Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review.