'Mayerling' at the Royal Opera House

I saw 'Mayerling' danced a couple of years ago by the Royal Ballet so I knew the broad outline of the ballet when I went to see the current production, but there are always sequences and details that you forget, and I'd forgotten a lot. I was there largely to see the return of Steven McRae to the stage with his Royal Ballet colleagues and a long time away with an injury. It was a delight to see him leap about, throw ballerinas around in exotic shapes and jump up to the rafters again. Especially so in this ballet which is really all about the leading man who is on stage for most of the ballet.

The ballet is based on the real tale of Crown Prince Rudolph of the House of Habsburg and his rather strange manias around death and guns. And sex, lots of sex. And getting his own way in everything. He's not a terribly attractive character but seemed to have been popular with the ladies at court and less popular with their husbands. He is forced into a loveless dynastic marriage and treats his wife appallingly, even taking her to his favourite bawdy house to meet his favourite strumpets. He's not a happy person and, despite treating everyone badly, still seems to be popular with some young women. one in particular who shares his morbid fascinations.

It all comes to a head when he shoots one of the courtiers on a family game shoot in the woods and his oddities can no longer be hidden. In the hunting lodge he's assigned to while the Emperor considers his fate he's visited my his latest young lover and they dance up a storm then he shoots up and grabs his pistol that's never far from his hand...

Phew. This an intense ballet, very dark and dangerous. It has a large cast, some exotic costumes and a lot going on around the stage, with sub-plots aplenty to build a rich and compelling tale of power and intrigue, psychological drama and uncontrolled lusts and passions. It's all in there.

Key to the whole thing, of course, is the choreography and dancing. This is one of Kenneth MacMillan's great ballets and deservedly gets revived regularly. It's a star vehicle for the lead male dancer and Steven McRae is certainly one of the Royal Ballet's finest. He's been a Principal since 2009 and knows his stuff, bringing characterisation to every role - it's about acting as well as dancing and there's some spectacular dancing in this ballet. Steven was accompanied by Akane Takada as his lover and together they pulled some amazingly athletic feats of dance, sometimes getting close to gymnastics. I had the pleasure of seeing Akane dance the Swan in 'Swan Lake' early in the summer and it was delightful to see her grace and athleticism again.

It's a very intense ballet and the long applause at the end as the dancers took their bows and the ballerinas received flowers helped to come down from the tense peak. It was a treat to see Steven on stage, alone, to take the first bow which he so richly deserved. Welcome back!

'Manon' at the Royal Opera House

'Manon' is one of the great romantic modern ballets by Kenneth MacMillan and has been in the Royal Ballet's repertoire for a long time (I saw the 274th performance according to the cast list). The tale is worthy and sad - there are no happy endings in this ballet. But there is some great dancing, particularly the group dances and the various pas de deux of the lovers.

'Manon' is a simple tale of greed, lust and power and, of course, love. Isn't every ballet? Our heroine is Manon, a young girl who travels to Paris with her guardian to meet her brother and change coaches to take her to a convent. By the time she appears we've already met her brother, Lescaut, who pimps his mistress and is friends with the Beggar Chief and other thieves. He welcomes the grand folks from Paris in the hopes of getting money out of them. When his sister arrives, beautiful and young, he realises he can get money for her virtue and he deals with both her guardian and the rich Monsieur G.M. While the deals are being made, Manon meets Des Grieux, a handsome young student and they fall in love and flee back to his apartment where they dance their love. Unfortunately, they're followed by Lescaut and Monsieur G.M. who then woos her with furs and a diamond necklace and she succumbs. Her lover is, of course, distraught.

Some time later the scene changes to a society party with courtesans and lusty old men, young energetic men showing off and all gentlemen handing in their swords to avoid any trouble. Lescaut and Des Grieux arrive in their finery and Lescaut is already drunk and gives the best drunk dancing I've ever seen as he and his mistress cavort across the stage. Then Monsieur and Manon arrive and she's bedecked in all her finery but, inside, she's still the little girl who fell in love and she and Des Grieux plan to run away together.  Monsieur returns and swords are drawn as the couple try to escape and Lescaut help them. They make it back to Des Grief's apartment, followed by Monsieur and the local police - he shoots and kills Lescaut and prosecutes Manon as a prostitute.

Manon is deported to a penal colony in the colonies in America and Des Grieux follows to protect her. She is still a beauty and the local Gaoler takes a fancy to his new charge and rapes her at which point Des Grieux finally grows a pair and stabs him to death. The lovers escape into the swamps around the colony where Manon finally dies and we leave Des Grieux to his mourning. Clap! Clap! Clap!

So there you have it kids, don't give up your virtue for worldly goods because you'll probably die in a swamp. And you don't want that.

It's a fab ballet and there's some astonishing dancing. The best solo dances all seem to go to that rascal Lescaut in the first act, leaping all over the place, and he gets the opportunity to do great dancing and falling over in the drunken party scene. Our lovers of Manon and Des Grieux dance some lovely and tender pas de deux, sharing moments of passion and love. One segment I really enjoyed was when the ladies arrived in the colony dressed in rags and hair cut scandalously short and their ensemble dance with their hands behind their backs one moment and covering their heads in shame the next before passing out with the heat and their weariness. I was most impressed with that simple and heart-felt story telling, the restrained movements and innate sadness. It was most fab indeed.

Our dancers were Akane Takada as Manon, Alexander Campbell as Des Grieux, James Hay as the very bouncy Lescaut, and Thomas Whitehead as the nasty Monsieur G.M. Thank you for the magic.

'Anastasia' at The Royal Opera House

On Monday evening we went to The Royal Opera House to see the latest Royal Ballet production, Kenneth MacMillan's 'Anastasia'. Something I like about the programmes and cast lists at the Royal Opera House is that they tell you how many performances there have been of a particular show so I can tell you that was the 69th performance at the Royal Opera House of this ballet since it was first created. So there you go.

'Anastasia' is about the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Anna, the woman who emerged after the First World War to claim that she was the daughter who had somehow survived the war and revolution. MacMillan choreographed the ballet in 1971 before DNA tests proved there was no link between Anna and the Romanov family so the ballet presumes that Anna might actually be Grand Duchess Anastasia. And what a powerful ballet it is.

It was a bit of a surprise to enter the Amphitheatre and not see the plush red curtains covering the stage - instead there was a giant, grainy, black and white photo of the Romanov family with Rasputin photoshopped into it on one side - Tsar, Tsarina, four daughters and one son. I'd forgotten about the mad monk who stalks menacingly through portions of the ballet like a malevolent spirit (and who Anastasia is obviously wary of). It was quite poignant to see this photo of the Romanovs below the royal crest of the Royal Opera House with all the royal houses of Europe having links in some way. The original photo is included in the programme without Rasputin photoshopped in (he's at the top right in this photo).

The first act is a tale of youthful joy, a family outing on a steamer with attentive crew and limitless possibilities. The daughters all dance and tease the officers and Anastasia is the centre of attention. She and her sisters dance with the handsome, young officers while other officers leap from the side of the ship to have a swim in the sea. Happy, care-free times, times to look back on and smile. And then the Tsar receives the message that war has been declared on Germany. Yes, it's 1914 and dark times are coming.

The second act takes place in 1917 and is more stately, more sedate, lacking the joy of the pre-war years. Russia has been at war for three years and the world has changed. We see Anastasia'a coming out ball at which the Tsar has invited his favourite ballerina and her partner to perform and we get a great entertainment section. This act is interrupted by a great sequence at the front of the stage of the revolutionaries preparing for insurrection and then we see them invading the palace and setting it alight (with flames on the tops of some walls, looking very realistic).

The third act is Anna - or Anastasia? - in a mental institution reliving memories of her family, of the revolution, of Rasputin. Are they memories or are they made up from what she's been told or read? Other than a hospital bed the stage was empty with Anna dancing her madness with various memories appearing now and then to dance with her or torment her. This was very absorbing to watch, very intense and driven, and was the longest act with the dancer playing Anna being on stage the entire time. It doesn't try to resolve the conundrum of whether Anna is Anastasia but it offers glimpses and possibilities.

Our Anastasia was Lauren Cuthbertson and her mother, Tsarina Alexandra was the wonderful Itziar Mendizabal who I've seen before in 'Giselle' and 'The Winter's Tale' - her performance confirms her as the queen of grace and precision in my eyes. Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae were the excellent dancers in the second act. Lauren Cuthbertson was also Anna in the painful third act, the woman who may or may not be the real Anastasia. She was on stage for the entire time with so much stamina and energy that she deserved all the flowers she got when it was time for the bows.

This is an excellent production and deserves to be seen by everyone who can make it. Have an imagination, have a soul and you can't fail to like it and be drawn in by it. I was.

'Obsidian Tear/The Invitation/Within The Golden Hour' at the Royal Opera House

Last week we went to see a triple bill of one act ballets performed by The Royal Ballet at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Two ballets were new to me and one I'd seen before (the endlessly moving 'Within the Golden Hour').

The catalyst for going was 'Obsidian Tear', a brand new ballet by Wayne McGregor who became a firm favourite with 'Woolf Works' last year, and this was the second ever public performance of the ballet so that, in itself, is pretty special. Even more so since it was danced to music written by Esa-Pekka Salonen who also conducted the orchestra for that ballet, with Vasko Vassilev on jittery, scary violin (and who got a well deserved ovation at the end).

So, what is 'Obsidian Tear' about and is it 'tear' as in cry or as in rip? I have no idea what the answer is to either. I suspect that's part of the joy of the piece. It spins a yarn that we don't know and isn't explained but tells it through expressive and joyous movement that let's you make it up as you go along. So I will.

Some of the words that came to mind while I was mulling it over were Stygian, ancient, ritual, male, unknown and dark. O so dark. The bare stage remains bare and we meet two men in black and red dancing around each other, sometimes for themselves and sometimes to show off to the other, dancing in their own language and patterns. They're joined by seven more men in various black costumes, all competitive and trying to out-do one another in their athleticism. But what's going on? Some kind of ancient ceremony for men only, it seems, as each takes the limelight with one dancer introducing a slightly more menacing tone by elbowing, kicking and head-butting the red dancer out of the limelight so he can have his turn.

Swirling and constant movement, watching every part of the stage, each of the dancers seems to be dancing his own dance, none repeating the other, telling their own story in a language I can't decipher. But then black trousers picks up red trousers and carries him to the back of the stage and throws him into the fiery pit. That was a shock. Sacrifice? This is about sacrifice? Like the old Mayans and Aztecs where the sacrifice knew it was coming and were prepared?

And the dance moves on and on, swirling across the stage until black trousers jumps into the fiery pit himself and the curtain descends.

What's been going on here? It's primal, it involves ancient gods we've forgotten about and I was a witness. Phew! It's almost exhausting to watch. I've still got no idea what it's about but I want to see it again, to take me a step or two closer to the vision at the centre of this piece. This was art and I was part of it by simply sitting there and observing. It doesn't need any validation. It is.

'The Invitation' is a very different kind of ballet, an exploration of the loss of innocence by Kenneth MacMillan. It's the summer when a girl and a boy leave school and start the journey to adulthood along with their friends. The tone is set at the start with covering up the genitals and boobs of statues on the stage, a time of prudes and caution. But the young folks are invited to a party with adults who exert an unforeseen influence on the youngsters that ends up with the girl being raped by an older man. The man is agonised by his acts and the girl can't relate to the boy again. Her innocence has been lost.

Even though I was sort of expecting it, it was still a shock to see the rape on stage, the girl wrapped around the man's crotch and then slowly, so slowly, sliding down his legs. It was definitely an 'O!' sort of moment. And there was lots of tippy in this one.

The third ballet was 'Within The Golden Hour', a series of pas de deux and ensemble dances that go on and on and repeats it's wondrous beauty as you get dragged further into it and swirl and leap until you're exhausted.  This piece is by Christopher Wheeldon who explores repetition and solo dancing to the extreme. How they don;t bump into each other is a testament to their professionalism and training since, every now and then, there are so many dancers in the same space on stage that it gets mesmerising and almost addictive. The sound, the movement, the dynamics of them all doing the same - and/or - different things on stage is incredible. It takes your breath away.

These three ballets were all well worth seeing and, as ever, I've yet to be disappointed by the Royal Ballet. I didn't even see any of my favourite dancers but these performances were spectacular and well worth seeing again.  Every now and then when I caught my breath I wondered how on earth they can remember all the steps and movements in the ballets, how they don't forget where to stand or who to catch when they leaped? Endless, endless training and practicing, of course, and they achieve perfection in movement and art. When I fail to be astonished is when I've seen too much ballet. It hasn't happened yet.

'Romeo & Juliet' at the Royal Opera House

I've been to the ballet a few times and enjoyed it but I've never seen a full length, tradional ballet so last night was the chance put that right when we went to see 'Romeo & Juliet' at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. It's always exciting to go into the plush Royal Opera House and this is the Royal Ballet's 50th anniversary production of the Kenneth Macmillan interpretation of the Shakespeare play. It was wonderful to see - why didn't I see this 30 years ago? It's danced to Prokofiev's marvellous score with some wonderful themes swirling round the theatre, drifting off only to reappear again later. A colourful production full of dashing movement set to that music and with a classic story, what more could you want?

It opens in the busy market-place of Verona with our hero, Romeo, being a Jack-the-lad with the local girls and, when his friends arrive, start taunting the enemy house of Capulet. This results in a full-on battle with sword-fencers darting here and there across the stage including a great synchronised sword-fencing section where they were all in time with each other. It was all terribly energetic and skilfully done, I was most impressed! The Montague's in white tights and Capulet's in red tights so it was easy to see who was who. You could easily hear those swords clashing and scraping - this was realistic stuff.

It's a while before we meet Juliet but the dancing makes it plain that she is a young girl with her bouncing around the stage and into her nurse's lap - she's 13 after all. Her parents have lined her up to marry and introduce her to 'society' at a ball in her honour at which the Montague lads sneak in and Romeo is smitten. Hard. They dance. And fall in love. When they sneak off to a church to marry I couldn't help but think, 'That's it, you've sealed your fates now…'. They were lovely together, dancing the dawning of their love, expressing their feelings and their need to be one. It was delightful.

Of course, we all know it goes wrong with Juliet faking suicide to avoid another marriage, Romeo believing she's dead and taking his own life just as Juliet wakes up. Such a cruel ending that ramps up the tension. So sad.

This was a great production and I'm so pleased I saw it. It struck me in the first half that I should have seen this 30 years ago and then I would've seen so many great productions over those 30 years rather than seeing it for the first time now.  If only. Telling the story through dance worked so well and it was easy to follow and get wound up in the tale of love and sadness. Some of the dances were particularly touching like when Romeo and Juliet dance after waking up on the morning after their first (and only) night together. Their love is so strong but Romeo must leave, a very tender scene.

It was nice to meet a range of characters who aren't in the play but who add some fun and another angle to the ballet, such as the Happy Strumpets as I named them ('Three Harlots' in the cast list but I prefer strumpets, thank you). They were great fun and fearless and everyone should know a strumpet. I'm pleased that Romeo knew the Happy Strumpets.

Our Juliet was Iana Salenko and Romeo was Steven McRae, a joyous coupling. Alexander Campbell was Mercutio and Thomas Whitehead was Tybalt, the warring enemies that set Romeo on the track to killing Tybalt. It's all so sad and so unnecessary. They were all great, energetic dancing and acting, the cockiness of the lads, making it all come alive in front of us. The set, the costumes, the lighting all came together to provide a very special experience - I loved it.