Although I read in Dance and Dancers about a performance at the Royal Northern College of Music by a new company called Northern Dance Theatre when I was an undergraduate at St. Andrews, it was only in 1987 that I saw them for the first time. I could not have had a better introduction because it was Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man with Christopher Gable as L S Lowry and Moira Shearer as the artist's mother.
They were two ballet heroes from my childhood. Shearer had retired before I took an interest in ballet though clips and photos of her remained long afterwards. Gable, on the other hand, was one of the biggest stars in the 1960s when I started to attend the ballet. I saw him several times and admired him greatly.
At about the same time as I saw A Simple Man or perhaps shortly afterwards Gable was appointed Artistic Director of the company now known as Northern Ballet. As I said in my review of Moriconi and Gable's Romeo and Juliet on 5 April 2024, "[s]ome of my favourite works were created while Gable was the Artistic Director of the company and I have always regarded that time as a golden age." I added that it gave me great pleasure to see Romeo and Juliet again and that I very much looked forward to seeing A Christmas Carol again in November.
I actually saw it on the last day of the year and I was not disappointed. We had an excellent cast:
I have waited a long time to see this show again. The company danced to packed houses most nights in Leeds. I hope it will keep its place in the repertoire.
Northern Ballet Romeo and JulietSheffield Lyceum Theatre 4 April 2024 14:00
Northern Ballet has two fine productions of Romeo and Juliet in its repertoire. One was created by Jean-Christophe Maillot which I reviewed in Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet - different but in a good wayon 8 March 2015 and Romeo and Juliet after the Shrewon 15 Oct 2016. The other was choreographed by Massimo Moricone and directed and devised by Christopher Gable. Moricone and Gable's was premiered in 1992 to considerable critical acclaim but it had not been performed for many years. It was revived in Leeds last month and is now on the second stage of a nationwide tour. I watched the matinee performance of the ballet in Sheffield yesterday.
There are many different versions of Romeo and Juliet inthe world's ballet companies Some like Lavrovsky's and MacMillan's follow Shakespeare quite closely. Others like Pastor's and Sir Matthew Bourne's leave Shakespeare way behind. Moricone and Gable's followed the play faithfully as can be seen from the "Romeo & Juliet Story" page on Northern Ballet's website but there were some original details that enhanced the understanding of the story. In Juliet's bedroom, the nurse reminds Juliet that she is growing up by pointing to changes in her body. In Act II Mercutio is provoked into challenging Tybalt because Tybalt drags a young woman by her hair. I do not know whether those touches were suggested by the choreographer or director but Gable will have developed an intimate understanding of Romeo and Juliet from dancing the lead role with Lynn Seymour in MacMillan's work.
Yesterday's cast included both premier dancers of the company as well as my first choices for the lead roles. When I had the opportunity to learn Juliet's dance at KNT's choreographic intensive in 2016, our teacher Jane Tucker, who had danced in the same production of the ballet, set the scene as follows:
"You are 12 years old. This is your first ball. You are so excited you can hardly contain yourself. All eyes are on you. You want everybody to be you."
I have seen many Juliets in my time including Fonteyn and Seymour and while they have dazzled me I have never been able to think of them as 12-year-olds. Sarah Chun did remind me of that little girl bubbling with excitement and playfully teasing her nurse as she prepared for that first grown-up ball, Similarly, Jonathan Hanks with his youthful features was ideally cast for Romeo. In the play, those kids grow up almost overnight and so did Chun and Hanks in the ballet. They are both remarkable dance actors. I really warmed to them. I see that in her bio Sarah Chun said that Juliet would be her dream role. Yesterday, she lived that dream and she was brilliant.
An important role but one which is often discounted is the nurse or as we would describe her nowadays the nanny. She appears in all three acts and she has to project all kinds of emotions from playfulness in the first bedroom scene and she romps around with her young charge to fear as she tries to protect Juliet from her grief-stricken and angry parents. Her role was danced by Harriet Marden. She has been in the company for some time and I must have seen her countless times but this is the first time I have mentioned her in my reviews but I am sure it will not be the last. I shall now be looking out for her. She showed considerable talent as a character dancer. I loved the way she crossed herself before she grabbed Juliet's note from between the thighs of one of Romeo's buddies.
It was a treat to see Abigail Prudames, one of my favourite dancers in the company. I have watched her progress through the company's ranks with great satisfaction. She danced Lady Capulet with exceptional energy and passion. Her anger upon learning of Tybalt's death in his duel with Romeo was palpable.
Tybalt was danced by Joseph Taylor (another artist I have long admired) who portrayed his character perfectly. Having met him in real life I know that he is anything but the privileged, headstrong, thuggish young blade who received his comeuppance after bullying young women and knifing Mercutio when he was off his guard but Taylor projected that character faultlessly, He is a great dance-actor as well as a virtuoso.
One other artist who deserves special mention is Jun Ishi who danced Mercutio. Again this is the first time that I have mentioned that artist in my reviews but it will not be the last as I shall follow his career with interest in the future. The audience gasped with relief as he rose to his feet after the stabbing. We relaxed as he took a swig from a bottle. We despaired as he sank lifeless to the floor.
Everybody in the cast performed well and if I mentioned every member by name this review would resemble a telephone directory. All I can do is to congratulate everyone in the show on a magnificent spectacle.
It was of course not just the dancers who made it a good show. I have already mentioned Gable and Moricone but I should not forget John Longstaff There were several details in the music which reinforced the story which I had not noticed in other productions. I am not sure whether the peel of thunder immediately before the overture was part of the orchestration or Gable's direction. I was a little discombobulated when I first heard it but it made perfect sense in the context of the hail storm at the end of Act II.
I must also praise Lez Brotherston's designs. The opening scene featured a fragment of the maxim "Amor vincit omnia" which of course is the theme of the ballet. Love did not quite conquer all from the point of view of the young lovers though maybe it did eventually in the embrace of Lords Capulet and Montague just before the curtain fell. I learnt for the first time from the programme that many of the costumes from the original show had been destroyed or damaged in the flood. I know that Peter Pan had been lost but I was not aware that Romeo and Juliet had also been affected. It required a major effort to restore the ballet and it says a lot for a company that undertook that work.
I first got to know Northern Ballet Theatre when Christopher Gable danced with Moira Shearer in The Simple Man. Some of my favourite works were created while Gable was the Artistic Director of the company and I have always regarded that time as a golden age, It gives me great pleasure to see Romeo and Juliet again and I am very much looking forward to watching A Christmas Carol in November.
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