Cleopatra - Northern Ballet, The Grand, Leeds 6 March 2014

Bust of Cleopatra. Altes Museum, Berlin            Source Wikipedia

To create a ballet set in Ptolemaic Egypt at the time that Rome transitioned from republic to empire covering such momentous events as the assassination of Julius Caesar and the battle of Actium and featuring such important figures from history and literature as Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Augustus and Cleopatra was quite a challenge. Ashton never tried anything like that. Neither did Macmillan though he did tackle historical events in Anastasia and Mayerling. Nor, indeed, did any of the great choreographers of the imperial or soviet eras. The nearest I can think of is Spartacus which was set in the servile wars. David Nixon and Northern Ballet accepted that challenge and I think that they succeeded. I left the theatre quite dazed. Something that rarely happens to me and never before in ballet.  The normal laudatory adjectives - even superlatives - will not do justice to this work so this will be a factual, possibly even clinical, review.

The first thing that impressed me was that an enormous amount of work had been done not just by Nixon but also by the other members of the creative team and indeed Martha Leebolt who danced Cleopatra and for whom the role was created. In the programme she wrote that she had prepared for the ballet by reading lots of books, watching the film and everything on TV that she could find. She took in anything and everything because she was aware that even the smallest detail strengthens a character and makes it more realistic. This is a fascinating period of classical history that has interested me since the age of 7 and I know it well. I actually studied it formally for my A levels in Latin and Roman history and informally before and since. I have visited the temples and seen the artefacts of Hellenistic Egypt in the great museums around the world. Even though a ballet does not have to be a historical document it is clear that considerable trouble was taken to get the history and the artistic details right.

For those who have yet to see the ballet the story and the characters are set out on the company's website. The score, specially composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg, can be downloaded from Amazon or i-tunes or heard by Spotify subscribers through the music page. The stage designs were spectacular and ingenious transporting the audience seamlessly from Wadjet's temple to Ptolemy's palace,  a vessel in full sail, the streets and senate of Rome and back to Egypt. Equally impressive were the costumes from Cleopatra's regalia to the deities of ancient Egypt who appeared in the last scene as Cleopatra's spirit entered the afterlife.

The choreography covered two murders, riots and commotion, a great battle, love scenes of Cleopatra with Ptolemy, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, Cleopatra's confrontation with Octavia and her worship of Wadjet and much more. I cannot begin to describe it all.  There is only so much that the senses can absorb but there are sequences that stick particularly in my memory such as the opening and closing scenes of Cleopatra and Wadjet and the battle of wills between Cleopatra and Octavia.

A stellar cast danced last night.  On stage with Martha Leebolt were her handmaidens Charmian and Iris danced  by Pippa Moore and Antoinette Brooks-Daw, three of the company's best. The other strong female role was Octavia performed by Hannah Bateman yet another star. For me, Octavia's encounter with Cleopatra in which both dancers showed their considerable acting skills was the high point of the evening. As for the men, there were impressive performances by Kenneth Tindall as Wadget, Javier Torres as Caesar and Tobias Batley as Mark Antony.  Everyone danced well from principals downwards.

This is a ballet that has to be seen more than once and probably many times to be appreciated fully. It is to be performed only in two theatres, The Grand in Leeds until 15 March and then The Lyceum in Sheffield between the 25 and 29 March 2014. We have had to wait since 2011 for the return of this work. Goodness knows how long we shall have to wait to see it again.

Post Script

7 March 2914  Reinforcing my impression that David Nixon had done an extraordinary amount of background research, Dolly Williams has displayed some of the costume designs in Cleopatra Fashion Fix. She mentions that David Nixon contributed to these drawings in collaboration with Christopher  Giles. I particularly like the headgear of Apis who was one of the gods who greeted Cleopatra's spirit in the last scene together with Anubis and one other whose identity I struggle to remember.

Further Reading

21 March 2014 Lauren Godfrey "Why I love Cleopatra"

7 March 2014  "Hail the queen of ballets" Derbyshire Times

6 March 2014  "Video: Cleopatra back in region after £1m success of national tour" Yorkshire Post

Northern Ballet's Cinderella - a Triumph!

Northern Ballet Cinderella Leeds Grand Theatre 26 Dec 2013

In my review of Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel on 23 Dec 2013 I wrote:

"Brilliantly conceived, brilliantly orchestrated, brilliantly designed and brilliantly danced my only fear is that it will spoil me for the next ballet that I shall see which will be Northern Ballet's Cinderella at the Grand on Boxing Day."

Hansel and Gretel was not the only ballet that might have spoiled me. I had also seen Ashton's Cinderella with Sir Fred and Sir Bob as the ugly sisters. I had seen Matthew Bourne's Cinderella which is set in  wartime London and is the best work from New Adventures that I have seen so far. While waiting for the Grand to open I watched on my mobile phone the trailer for Christopher Wheeldon's new version for the Dutch National Ballet which looks amazing. How could anything that Northern might produce possibly stand comparison?

Well, it does. Nixon's Cinderella is his best work yet. Even better than Gatsby (see "Life follows Art: the Great Gatsby" 8 March 2013) and indeed Dream though the audience did not respond so enthusiastically (see "Realizing Another Dream" 15 Sept 2013).  As you can see from the synopsis Nixon has reworked the story and used a completely new score by Philip Feeney.  Setting the ballet in pre-revolutionary Russia has worked at least as well as Hampson's setting Hansel and Gretel in post-war central Scotland which I commended last week. The first scene brought Chekhov's Cherry Orchard to mind and the circus and skating scenes on the Crystal Lake reminded me of Petrushka. The setting provided the opportunity for some spectacular sets by Duncan Hayler with dashing uniforms for the men and gorgeous skirts and headdresses for the women.

Nixon also created a strong new male character: a magician who replaced the Fairy Godmother  in other versions of the story. Danced yesterday by Hironao Takahashi who was also Cinderella's father, Count Serbrenska, he literally wrought magic before our eyes. Conjuring tricks at first and then bigger ones such as doing the housework in a trice (making me and probably every other woman in the audience smile)- a better job than even James Dyson for all his technical wizardry could accomplish - and then finally, after audience dazzling light effects, his tour de force, the Cinders mobile. Her sleigh pulled not by mice but by huskies with the word "Cinders" on the sides in flashing lights.  Nixon and Hayler have probably started a new trend in stretched limos. Every girl in Adel, Bramhope and Harrogate will want one for her 18th birthday, prom or hen night.

I must say something about the leading dancers. Like millions of balletomanes I watched Acosta and Nuñez dance Basilio and Kitri in Don Quixote in the cinemas and on BBC4 on Christmas day. There was a special sort of rapport between them which I attributed to their being Latin Americans dancing roles derived from one of the classics of Spanish literature. I saw something of the same yesterday in  Javier Torres, who danced the prince, and Lucia Solari, who was Cinderella. Torres, like Acosta, is Cuban and Solari was born in Uruguay which is next to Argentina though she has lived in Europe for many years. Was it coincidence, my imagination or something more?  Whatever the reason I was captivated by their dancing, particularly the pas de deux at the end of the ball and the second pas de deux in the last scene.

It would however be unfair to single out those two for special praise.  All performed well. Teresa Saavedra-Bordes and Rachael Gillespie, who danced Cinderella's, were anything but ugly except in the way they treated poor Cinders. A strong performance from Jessica Morgan, the stepmother.  Oh and I loved the performing bear who I suspect was Matthew Broadbent.

If you want to know more about the show Janet McNulty, who seems to be as big a fan of Northern Ballet as me, has written some marvellous notes for Balletcoforum  I have just discovered that forum and am hooked on it. It is a wonderful resource and I commend it to all. Cinderella will be at Leeds until the 4 January 2014 and it will be staged in Hull and Cardiff in April. If you live in or near any of those cities you really must see it.

My only thought - which is only half frivolous - is will Cinderella spoil me for the next ballet that I shall be see which will be Giselle with Acosta and Osipova on 18 Jan in Covent Garden? When I tweeted that thought yesterday @norhernballet (Dolly?) replied that Giselle might give me the wilis which provided plenty of Myrthe.