Branches: The Nature of Crisis – review

If you go down to the woods today, you'd better look out for loud youths dressed as superheroes, and a punk band, and strange, yeti-like creatures humping the trees. The Berlin-based director and choreographer Constanza Macras is, by her own admission, "not an outdoor person". But this bizarre promenade experience, presented by the National Theatre of Wales , brings her usually urban physical theatre company, DorkyPark, to Wepre Park , one of north Wales's most evocative ancient forests. Macras's piece is inspired by the two elements of Welsh culture that struck her most forcefully: the Mabinogion , an epic, medieval collection of Celtic mythology; and the hen parties that pour out on to the streets of Cardiff every weekend. You could make a case for combining the two, as both contain grisly episodes concerning the fate of a stag. But Macras rather confusingly adds to the mix a series of lectures concerning the career of the 18th-century economist John Law , the progenitor of the Mississippi bubble that almost bankrupted France. It climaxes in the lofty ruins of Ewloe Castle , where the ensemble sing a madrigal and have a punch-up. As a comment on the global economic situation, alas, it feels risibly simplistic, and the experience can be trying on your patience – not to mention your feet. There's far too much time allocated to peering at interpretative dancing through the undergrowth, and when someone pronounces the dread words: "We're going to have a bit of a workshop, so I need some volunteers," – all part of the finished show, it seems – you search in vain for a shortcut. It does have its moments, particularly as the light fades when you're obliged to pick your way around with a torch, and Macras's ensemble presents some surreal encounters. But the overall impression is of a long time spent stumbling around in the dark. What have you been to see lately? Tell us about it on Twitter using #GdnReview Tweet #GdnReview !function(d,s,id){ varjs,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");