Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival.
14 March 2026.
At this year’s Adelaide Festival, Theatre of Dreams by the Hofesh Shechter Company arrived as a spectacle. Choreographed by Hofesh Shechter, the piece plunges audiences into a surreal landscape that explores the strange, fleeting and often illogical nature of dreams. Known for his visceral physicality and cinematic theatricality, Shechter once again delivers a work that is both haunting and hypnotic.
From the outset, the stage world of Theatre of Dreams feels suspended between reality and subconscious imagination. A shifting theatrical landscape draws the audience into a realm where dreams, fears and fantasies blur together.
Dreams rarely unfold in tidy narratives, and Theatre of Dreams embraces this fully. Scenes appear and vanish almost magically, ideas shift mid-thought, and moments move or completely dissolve before they can be fully grasped. Like dreams themselves, the work moves fluidly between images, sensations, and emotional states – sometimes playful, sometimes unsettling, always intriguing.
The stagecraft throughout is mesmerising. Curtains play a central choreographic role, constantly opening, closing and shifting to reveal fragments of action. These moving black curtains, paired with dynamic lighting, create endless glimpses and theatrical illusions, allowing dancers to vanish and reappear as though conjured by the subconscious.
A red-suited onstage band punctuates the visual world while performing a brilliantly diverse score that moves from jazz passages to sounds evoking Middle Eastern musical traditions and beyond. The music itself is composed by Shechter, which is an impressive reminder that his artistry extends far beyond choreography. The sonic landscape is rich, intriguing and constantly evolving, propelling the choreography forward with relentless momentum.
Movement-wise, the choreography is deeply hypnotic. The dancers pulse through grounded, rhythmic sequences that evoke the trance-like qualities of Gaga-inspired movement. The dancers are exceptional. The cast of 12 performs with extraordinary stamina and commitment, sustaining an hour-and-a-half of almost continuous movement. Each dancer brings a unique presence and energy to the stage. Through the clever use of curtains, lighting and looping patterns, the ensemble frequently feels far larger than it is, filling the vast stage of the Adelaide Festival Theatre with electrifying intensity.
The audience experience is equally visceral. The driving rhythms and pulsing choreography make it almost impossible to remain still. It is easy to find yourself toe tapping, bopping along and subtly mirroring the movement on stage. In a delightful surprise, the work even offers the audience a moment to dance – an invitation to release into the same physical joy the performers embody so fully.
One particularly humorous and relatable moment nods to that universal anxiety dream: waking up in public – on the train, at work – completely naked. It is a fleeting but striking image that highlights the vulnerability embedded within our dreams, those secret inner worlds we rarely share with others.
As the piece unfolds, its spell grows stronger. What begins as a curious, visually striking experience gradually transforms into something more immersive. The urge to analyse fades away. Instead, you simply surrender to the rhythm, the movement and the music.
By the final moments, Theatre of Dreams has become something deeply sensory and satisfying. Rather than presenting a clear narrative, Shechter offers an experience – a swirling, hypnotic meditation on the secret life of our dreams in a work that lingers with you, pulsating through your body long after the curtain falls.
By Deborah Searle of Dance Informa.
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