STOMP is unique. Founded 30 years ago in the UK, STOMP is a thrilling blend of percussion, dance, and comedy. A high-energy show performed without words or traditional instruments, STOMP creates music using everything from human feet and hands to lengths of rubber pipe to trash cans. Eight perfo rmers bang, tap, slap, snap, and move in complex rhythms using everything up to and including the kitchen sink. The show is now enjoying a large national tour that stopped at DC’s National Theatre from January 16 to 18. Creators Luke Cresswell and Steve McNichols and their original cast exprerimented with every everyday object they could get their hands on to see what sounds they could get out of them, and those sounds are the only ones heard throughout the show, on a volume spectrum from the soft brush of a broom on a floor, and the crinkling of newspapers, to the cacophony of banging on huge plastic tubs and walls hung with multiple metal objects. It is wondrous how production sound manager Mark Miller, working with the National Theatre’s tech staff, could get all those sounds to reach from the front rows to the back balcony. The quietest bits happen fairly far downstage, so proscenium mics seem a good bet.  Scene from ‘STOMP.’ Created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, photo © by Steve McNicholas. The various parts of the show — what to call them? dances, scenes, pieces, numbers? — are extremely inventive. Some are very small-scale, such as one involving only tapping and scraping on matchboxes. Others are majestic, like one based on crashing, drumming, and riding on shopping carts, and the one where the performers are literally hanging from the walls, swinging wildly and banging on all the metal and plastic objects that at first appeared to be only decoration.  Several scenes focus on the sound particular objects make when struck or otherwise manipulated. A series of rubber pipes of different lengths, for instance, make different pitches when banged on the floor, enabling the performers to thump them in different sequences that almost evoke a peal of bells, if bells produced dull “bonk” noises. At other times, metal cups full of water produce different sounds when struck. The different pitches are so noticeable that one audience member seated near me wondered whether they were somehow enhanced or made using recorded tracks. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that since the point of the show is making live sounds using only found objects, artificially adding sounds would totally defeat the purpose.  All this would be amazing enough, but STOMP ups the entertainment value by adding a good dollop of comedy. Funny bits between the performers abound. One particular character wearing glasses, baggy shorts, and a beanie is clearly the clown of the show. He shows up often using a tiny version of what the rest of the performers are “playing” — when they crash across the stage wearing oil-can stilts, for example, he clops behind with comic dignity on paint cans. In one scene centered around shopping trolleys, he gets a child’s trolley. One entire skit is built around this character trying to do a crossword puzzle while everyone around him starts making every possible noise with their newspapers. It is clear from his performance in the ensemble that, in addition to clowning around, he is as talented a percussionist as any of the rest.  Amazing talent abounds in this production. It is impossible to single out particular performers, since there are 12 listed in the cast, but only eight perform in each show. But the six men and two women I saw were magnificent. Some are clearly trained dancers, some come from the percussion side, but each has their own style. There is one performer who seems to be the leader; he has a solo where he makes amazing rhythms with just his hands and feet — clogging, but with clapping and slapping added.  He then leads the house in a comic but engaging round of audience participation, clapping out rhythms for them to copy. STOMP has a knack for grabbing the audience in their seats and making them want to move, so this is very gratifying — and the final encore is a riotous round of more of the same.  STOMP hasn’t changed much over its 30 years; some of its numbers, like the brooms or the trash-can finale, are fairly well known. But if you’ve never seen it, it’s more than worth it. You’ve never seen anything like it.  Running time: One hour and 40 minutes, with no intermission. STOMP played January 16—18, 2026, at The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Information about the North American tour can be found here. The post Inventive percussive ‘STOMP’ makes a ruckus at the National appeared first on DC Theater Arts. ...read more read less