Hearts And Drums Beat Together.

Mugenyko Taiko Drummers

Theatre Severn

22/October/2015

It was a full house in theatre Severn tonight that sat spellbound lapping up  the incredible experience that is the Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers Show.

Based in a Dojo in Southern Scotland  the band had not one kilt nor bagpipe between them, just a lot of drums and a hatful of pure rhythm.

The stage was full of amazing, stunning drums. They were sometimes talking individually to the crowd and sometimes singing together in a choir of primal emotion. Obviously this was the thrust of the performance; but really, even though the faultless drumming was everything Taiko Drumming should be, it was equalled by the pure Stagecraft and Theatre of the show.

The discipline showed and the synchronicity displayed was awesome. Not a word one would easily attach to a theatre performance however tonight it wasn’t just attached, it was integral.

If one can imagine the understanding of the art displayed by Mugenkyo, and combine that with the volcanic way that the show hit the audience’s hearts and held them rapt in fascination, you might be near to comprehending the magic that was shared from stage to the stalls and circles.

Drawing from influences of Noh and Kabuki theatre styles, the spectacle just got better and better, the rhythms, once released were like single beings that played together around the theatre in a wonderful subtext that was purely the creation of the skill of the players as they found the character and spirit of their drums.

If you have ever wondered what rhythms are? It’s simple, they are the noise of life. Tonight through your mind’s eye you may have seen machines ticking away, you may have heard children at play, possibly you could hear war, you could hear clocks ticking, you could hear whatever you thought of, not because the drummers were trying to emulate those particular examples, it is because they were all in there, it is at that point of realisation that one learns that all of life is a rhythm.  Rhythm can be slow like our own life cycle, it can be fast like the weather, it can be slow and fast like the politics that govern us and it can be slow like developing love. They are all rhythms of life and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Rhythm is primal and the band to bring that emotion out in us, the ones that are able to show all that in just a two hour show are The Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers.

This was a faultless, exciting and emotional experience; Shrewsbury Theatre Goers knew they were lucky to have shared it. For theatrical value alone this is a five star review add the drumming and a fistful of stars wouldn’t cover it.

This is a Five Star Review.

Owen J. Lewis