The Royal Ballet: Woolf Works, Winter 2017

[RuthE]

I can cope with Song of the Earth but would prefer it without the singer on stage.  However, I took a guest to the last performance and he was bored rigid.  

 

Whereas I only go to Song of the Earth if I know I'll like the singers...

[John Mallinson]

Good interview with Mara Galeazzi by Jann Parry on DanceTabs today.

[Beryl H]

Last evening was my fifth performance of Woolf Works including the cinema, I wanted especially to see the second cast again as there wasn't one in 2015 apart from a few dancers in Orlando, feel sad now, the sooner the DVD is released the better!

 

I love the second cast Mrs. Dalloway, which is is easily the finest ballet for me, both the music and the choreography, Orlando looked murky again after the cinema, was able to see Olivia Cowley and Nicol Edmonds quite well though, very hypnotic. I enjoyed Tuesday more last night, it does go on a bit in the middle but the pdd at the beginning and end are beautiful, and emotionally danced by Mara Galeazzi and Ryoichi Hirano, they were also good in their joyful pdd earlier in Mrs. Dalloway, he is an outstanding partner. He needs to be as his next partner is Natalia Osipova in SB, looking forward to that!

[capybara]

This is one ballet where I think the Russian custom of having curtain calls after each act would be useful. Normally I don't like this, in ballets such as Swan Lake, but here I think it would be justified.

 

 And, surely, each segment of Jewels has its own curtain call?

[LinMM]

I will get round to this honestly but am watching the BAFTA awards ( my partner is in films on the technical side) so feel I have to watch this but I know my views are similar to others who loved the the first Act the most will hope to add something ...though probably not ....that hasn't been said already. I did love the programme notes however as I did think they gave some insight in to how on earth McGregor was to interpret such a complicated subject as Virginia Woolf.

[penelopesimpson]

Last evening was my fifth performance of Woolf Works including the cinema, I wanted especially to see the second cast again as there wasn't one in 2015 apart from a few dancers in Orlando, feel sad now, the sooner the DVD is released the better!

 

I love the second cast Mrs. Dalloway, which is is easily the finest ballet for me, both the music and the choreography, Orlando looked murky again after the cinema, was able to see Olivia Cowley and Nicol Edmonds quite well though, very hypnotic. I enjoyed Tuesday more last night, it does go on a bit in the middle but the pdd at the beginning and end are beautiful, and emotionally danced by Mara Galeazzi and Ryoichi Hirano, they were also good in their joyful pdd earlier in Mrs. Dalloway, he is an outstanding partner. He needs to be as his next partner is Natalia Osipova in SB, looking forward to that!

I was there last night and I also particularly noticed Ryoichi who has a terrific stage presence.  Matthew Ball was, again, outstanding.  What a fabulous performer he is.  I have seen both casts and there is little to choose between them.  My companion last night was seeing her first ballet so I was a little nervous but she absolutely loved it - despite having a terribly fidgety neighbour who arrived with a backpack and two coats.   If I was to criticise, Act 3 is still something of an anticlimax, but this is a mere quibble.  Well done, RB.

[LinMM]

Just to say .....quite inconsequentially ....that have just had a fix of Max Richter music watching Taboo I'm now going to explore everything he has written!

[penelopesimpson]

Just to say .....quite inconsequentially ....that have just had a fix of Max Richter music watching Taboo I'm now going to explore everything he has written!

Stopped at the shop at ROH last night and they had completely sold out all the CD's from the matinee

[Odyssey]

Returning to the live screening, the second interval reading from The Waves by Dame Maggie Smith which was so affecting, was accompanied by the visual disintegration of the wax 'candle' of the female - the same image that is used in the publicity material. I haven't been able to track down any reference to this. I would like to think a DVD of the production would be able to incorporate such a deeply moving component .

[Bruce Wall]

Returning to the live screening, the second interval reading from The Waves by Dame Maggie Smith which was so affecting, was accompanied by the visual disintegration of the wax 'candle' of the female - the same image that is used in the publicity material. I haven't been able to track down any reference to this. I would like to think a DVD of the production would be able to incorporate such a deeply moving component .

 

I don't know if anyone else saw Dame Maggie Smith play Virginia Woolf in a play named simply VIRGINIA by the Irish writer, Edna O'Brien.  She did it first at Stratford, Ontario in Canada - where she was a resident star for four full seasons doing what she has said is some of her best work - and then for a brief run in the West End.  She was absolutely captivating.  

 

  

Edited February 13, 2017 by Bruce Wall

[Ian Macmillan]

Well, I've finally seen it, at an Encore screening in Cambridge this afternoon.  I have been no strong McGregor fan these past ten years and, had you asked me back then, I'd have said he would never make a work of this kind.  I'd have said he didn't have it in him.  But I was wrong, and I now feel sure that Woolf Works will last a long time in the contemporary dance canon.  He has found in Max Richter a composer who can push him - the piece is a first class example of Balanchine's "See the music, hear the dance."

 

So ten years from now, which 'retired' dancer might star in a revival?  Zenaida Yanowsky who, if I'm right, hasn't danced any of the major McGregor pieces this far?

[Vanartus]

Good question. Also in line...Leanne Benjamin?

[alison]

Funny the way the Encore screenings get scattered across the diary these days.  I had my eye on one tomorrow afternoon, but still don't think I'll make it ...

[JohnS]

Just a few thoughts to add to a fascinating thread to underline how very much we have enjoyed seeing Woolf Works at ROH (2nd cast) and in the cinema. There is much to admire and cherish, particularly in Acts 1 and 3, and Act 2 is dazzling in its vibrancy. The cinema relay was great and so good to hear Max Richter explain so lucidly how he approached the musical composition - a real triumph of communication which others should seek to emulate. Dame Maggie Smith's readings were also so eloquent, along with the image of the burning candle figure, and we hope the DVD will include and extend these.

 

I have to say that one or two aspects do trouble me but this may well be because I am not as familiar with Virginia Woolf's work as no doubt many others:

 

In Act 2 'Becomings', my impression was that we simply saw mulitiple Orlandos becoming female and I got no sense of any 300 year romp through history.

 

Act 3 was very moving but I'm afraid I have no idea who the Sarah Lamb/Federico Bonelli characters are. Is Bonelli reappearing from Act 1? And more seriously I am concerned that despite Act 3 depicting renunciation and loss, I do wonder about its apparent idealisation of suicide by drowning. I guess we are all much more aware of the appalling suffering inflicted on victims by water boarding and the terrible image of Virginia Woolf, stones in pockets, drowning herself must be in complete contrast to the so gentle final moments depicted on stage.

 

In Act 1 it's much easier to see what is going on in terms of the novel but that is surely contingent on some understanding of the plot, otherwise we are left wondering if Federico Bonelli is a younger Gary Avis and we may well be completely at a loss as to the Ed Watson/Akane Takada/Calvin Richardson First World War characters.

 

This leads to my strongest criticism which is why Wayne McGregor refuses to provide any short programme note of what we're seeing on stage and why he chooses not to provide even a basic cast list of characters. Front of House staff told me that McGregor didn't want the audience to fear that they needed to know the novels etc to enjoy the ballet drama and there was a suggestion that Royal Ballet members were not cast as characters (although there's plenty on social media showing the dancers properly named in character). I am not at all persuaded by McGregor's arguments and feel that he is doing a massive disservice to the audience by not providing useful programme notes. The Royal Ballet has also employed a dramaturge to assist but I haven't found her contributions in the programme, during Insight events, or in the couple of paragraphs in the cinema helpful. She refers to 'the false order of narrative conventions' as if this is a statement of fact: there may well be many approaches to literature but narrative chronology has a lot going for it and surely can't be dismissed as 'false'; and I do struggle with 'synaesthetic' as a helpful word. And why does the programme intersperse various texts from Waves, making them so difficult to read? What is really exasperating is that Max Richter has demonstrated so well how easy it is to communicate (and Crystal Pite in the recent Insight event) but I'm afraid Wayne McGregor seems to delight in the opaque and deliberately keeping the audience in the dark. A great shame: as I said above there is so much that is memorable and with a helpful programme note, I am sure the experience would be significantly enhanced.

[LinMM]

Saturday afternoon was my first viewing of Woolf Works and I really enjoyed it immensely .......I liked the choreography the music the staging...perhaps not all the costumes ....but I felt afterwards that this was a tour de force from McGregor ....perhaps a kind of masterpiece .....but an experience of substance definitely.

The first Act was so powerful in its expression it completely drew me in and I found it extremely moving on more than one occasion.

So many lovely choreographic moments and the interplay between the female dancers was delightfully joyous but then in complete contrast the duet between Watson and Richardson had me holding my breath.....those wonderful fast turns to move on and off stage by Richardson ....like a thought/idea ricocheting through space...and the agony of "his" life projected by Watson so penetrating .....just so intense .....I felt right there down on the stage with them. This whole Act was just very satisfying.

 

The second Act had no link with the first Act at all .....which I was expecting .....but the affect was that whereas I was entirely drawn in during the first Act ....I felt almost the reverse during this second Act .....quite removed ....just an observer. But I did enjoy that too!! As throughout this ballet the music played a big part for me ....I loved it. It felt entirely manic.... like a crazy colourful dream. There was so much going on it was impossible to take it all in but again some wonderful choreographic moments....probably lots I missed though as it was so busy. The light projections combined with all this manic activity created a sort of "altered state" ...which in the knowledge that Woolf herself was interested in and tried to explore and connect with different levels of consciousness .....seemed entirely appropriate.

I don't know the story of Orlando and have never read the book but didn't really try to relate it to this in my experience of the ballet just how the Dance itself came across. Virginia Woolf had several breakdowns (and attempted suicide more than once) and I think if I experienced too much of the "Orlando state" I'd need to go and take a rest away from it all for a while!!

One bit made me smile ......where the dancers were doing their thing across various spotlights ...I suddenly seemed to hear a teacher saying now just do whatever you like across the room.....and wondered whether some of this bit was in fact improvised by the dancers on a nightly basis as it were.

 

The third Act had an extreme melancholy about it again completely contrasting to the mood of the second.

There were some exquisite duets between Ferri and Bonelli and I liked the slow build to the end with the characters/thoughts/ideas / words ....coming forward looking and then retreating away into nothingness ....perhaps the sorrow and pain of not being able to quite connect with reality here for her but as Ferri almost waved herself down finally onto the floor .....it did feel like she was going under water ....it was profoundly moving as all the sound died away with nothing but her body on the stage. Very effective.

 

So all in all a completely absorbing entertaining and wonderful afternoon at the ballet. I am now sorry I missed this the first time around as they probably won't perform this again for ages now and I already want to see it again.

 

I know I said this before but once again a very big Thankyou to McGregor (more like this please) Richter and the RB for such a great afternoon.

 

And now to attempt at least one of Woolf's works again.....Anyone any idea which is the best to start with .....in other words the easiest to read?

[Mimi]

And now to attempt at least one of Woolf's works again.....Anyone any idea which is the best to start with .....in other words the easiest to read?

 

Ironically enough, probably Orlando.  One of the reasons I found the "Becomings" act so frustrating when I saw it during the first run was that it missed just about all of the novel's lightness and humor. 

[Saodan]

Act 3 was very moving but I'm afraid I have no idea who the Sarah Lamb/Federico Bonelli characters are.

 

My assumption was that Lamb is a younger Woolf and Bonelli is perhaps her husband. The Waves follows 6 children as they grow up, presumably represented by the six children that appear at the beginning of Tuesday, to be replaced by 6 adults. Adding a younger Woolf would fit with the idea of growing older and reflection. Ultimately, though, Tuesday is not narrative.

 

 

This leads to my strongest criticism which is why Wayne McGregor refuses to provide any short programme note of what we're seeing on stage and why he chooses not to provide even a basic cast list of characters... The Royal Ballet has also employed a dramaturge to assist but I haven't found her contributions in the programme, during Insight events, or in the couple of paragraphs in the cinema helpful. She refers to 'the false order of narrative conventions' as if this is a statement of fact: there may well be many approaches to literature but narrative chronology has a lot going for it and surely can't be dismissed as 'false'; and I do struggle with 'synaesthetic' as a helpful word. And why does the programme intersperse various texts from Waves, making them so difficult to read? What is really exasperating is that Max Richter has demonstrated so well how easy it is to communicate (and Crystal Pite in the recent Insight event) but I'm afraid Wayne McGregor seems to delight in the opaque and deliberately keeping the audience in the dark. A great shame: as I said above there is so much that is memorable and with a helpful programme note, I am sure the experience would be significantly enhanced.

 

 

I completely agree with this. Whilst I respect Woolf’s writing, I disagree entirely with the rejection of narrative by literary modernism. As such, I view much of Woolf’s writing as self-indulgent and pretentious. Combined with McGregor this has produced a veritable cacophony of ostentatious pretension  Every word of Hameed’s program notes and everything she and McGregor said during the insight event was dripping in unnecessary intellectualism. Unfortunately this can result in the art becoming impenetrable for those not 'in the club’. The comparison with Max Richter could not be sharper. 

[LinMM]

I may have got this wrong of course but I thought McGregor said that he was trying to recreate how you feel on reading Woolf or rather how she makes you feel so presumably the dance is in response to this

 

However having not read ANY of the works said to be represented in the ballet I wouldn't know PERSONALLY how any of them would make me feel....have to trust McGregor Richter and the dancers on this....though Bonelli bravely seemed to hint he hadn't read any either!!

Both McGregor and Richter were familiar with the books in the ballet and so must have some idea of what they were trying to create.

I didn't actually find the ballet pretentious I just enjoyed the moods it created but then maybe it was easier to do this because of my ignorance of her works.

[pianolady]

Well, saw the screening yesterday. I haven't read Mrs Dalloway and I definitely got a lot more out of the first section having looked up a summary of the novel beforehand. Without that I'd have been very distracted in wondering who was who (and I wasn't entirely clear even then). I agree that it was a mistake not to provide more detailed programme notes-especially for this first act where the dancers were playing definitive characters. I would have liked more information about the thinking behind the middle act-strangely enough this was the only novel out of the three I'd read and I found it the hardest to follow. I think the omission of more specific information could be seen as unintentionally patronising - almost as if the creators are insisting that we approach the work a particular way. As soon as you venture into creating a ballet that utilises a novel, even as a jumping-off point for inspiration, it's inevitable that I'm going to want to know more about the relationship between the two.

 

Loved the readings of Woolf-although unlike others I didn't like the dissolving candle-I found it really macabre and disturbing. To me, it seemed to contradict the meaning I took from the ballet which was one of poignancy butalso  hope rather than despair- as we die the ideas and stories each life tells do not, in eventuality, flicker out like a candle but become part of this huge tapestry of thoughts and ideas which is what I think Woolf was saying in one of the extracts. For me, the candle placed the emphasis back onto the body instead of the idea of human creativity living on. I'd have found a backdrop of the sea a more moving tapestry to the reading.

[Josephine]

I have assumed (maybe incorrectly) that the roles danced by Federico Bonelli and Sarah Lamb represent Leonard Woolf and Vanessa Bell.

[alison]

That was what I thought, too - and indeed I saw some review or something (the Michelle Potter in today's links?) saying that Lamb was representing Bell.

[zxDaveM]

Well, saw the screening yesterday. I haven't read Mrs Dalloway and I definitely got a lot more out of the first section having looked up a summary of the novel beforehand. Without that I'd have been very distracted in wondering who was who (and I wasn't entirely clear even then). I agree that it was a mistake not to provide more detailed programme notes-especially for this first act where the dancers were playing definitive characters. I would have liked more information about the thinking behind the middle act-strangely enough this was the only novel out of the three I'd read and I found it the hardest to follow. I think the omission of more specific information could be seen as unintentionally patronising - almost as if the creators are insisting that we approach the work a particular way. As soon as you venture into creating a ballet that utilises a novel, even as a jumping-off point for inspiration, it's inevitable that I'm going to want to know more about the relationship between the two.

 

 

 

I think the hope of the creators was that after using the novels as a jumping off point, they made you interpret the 'story' (or set of feelings, or whatever) in a way that makes sense to YOU. In that way, there is no right or wrong way to appreciate/enjoy/interpret the work - and gets the grey matter jumping  (for example, in the novel, Mrs Dalloway and Septimus don't meet but sorta sense London's streets the same way - here they have a pdd). Of course, my version of looking at this explanation may also be as completely wrong as my take on the ballet, but its my thought processes so feels right for me, if you see what I mean.

[Colman]

I don't know: I got more-or-less the right outline narrative from the first part without ever having read Mrs Dalloway or any plot summary and have read Orlando since and can see no direct relationship between book and dance in the second part. I can see how the themes and costumes might be inspired by the book but no more. Maybe on a rewatching I might be able to relate them more directly, but I suspect I'd have to work at it. 

[LinMM]

I'm not so concerned by not being able to relate the ballet to,the narrative as it now seems obvious that it isn't a narrative work!!

 

It seems to me that McGregor has taken the ballet out of the intellectual sphere and found some strong emotional/ feeling level of connection with the works which he has tried to encompass/ express in the ballet.

 

Of course this can lead to a myriad of interpretations but the main thing is I think.....did people enjoy it? Do they want to see it again? Did they go home satisfied? Was it money well spent?

I personally can certainly answer yes to those questions but I can see if people who love and are well read in Virginia Woolf's books they might have been expecting something else.....or just wanted the ballet to be more of a narrative link.

 

I wish I had read just one of her books to understand this more.

What I wanted to know and I don't think has been revealed is why McGregor chose those particular three books ....perhaps they are just his favourite ones? Or he thought these three had the essence of her? Did he say this anywhere?

[zxDaveM]

 

I wish I had read just one of her books to understand this more.

What I wanted to know and I don't think has been revealed is why McGregor chose those particular three books ....perhaps they are just his favourite ones? Or he thought these three had the essence of her? Did he say this anywhere?

 

I think they said something about this in the Insight, which i think is still available on the ROH YouTube channel (via the ROH website). Can't remember what was said though!

[SusanR]

I have been following this thread with interest but haven't posted my thoughts until now as they are so at odds with others! I am not a fan of McGregor & only went to the cinema screening to see Ferri.She did not disappoint. She is the epitome of elegance & grace & so expressive. It was also fabulous to see so many RB dancers who were stunning. But some of the movements are so ugly to me. Some pas de deux are more like wrestling matches & the lift where Osipova faced the audience with her legs splayed is just vulgar. I don't ' get' McGregor at all. Don't know how Woolf Works can be described as a masterpiece. To me it is more of ' The emperor's new clothes'.

Sorry. I have put on my hard hat ready for the backlash. ????

[Colman]

Orlando isn't exactly a narrative work as a book: it's possible that the ballet follows the structure of the book quite directly. This stuff is slightly beyond me: I'm a humble mathematician and computer scientist, all this high concept art stuff is quite confusing. 

[LinMM]

Well there is probably a reason I haven't been able to get into Virginia Woolf's books so far!!!

[Jillykins]

I really enjoyed Saturday matinee, more than first time round. I am not a McGregor fan, although I love Chroma! I find his work repetitive choreographically although I do like the way he combines dance, music, costumes, sets and lights. The first section on Saturday was beautifully danced --Ferris is just amazing. This was my favourite, I loved the combination of modern and classical style. A very moving piece of dance. Part two, colourful, great lighting and music and some terrific dancing. Got a bit gymnastic for me at times but very enjoyable. The final piece moved me to tears, especially the letter so beautifully read at the start. So much pain, the joy of children on a beach and the pain of adulthood. I am a Samaritan volunteer and the pain of mental illness and the guilt that goes with it were so well portrayed to the audience. I am now going to revisit the Insight on WW on web site.

 

One distracting thing for me was the behaviour of som of the orchestra! Now my eyesight is not as good as it was I book lower down in Grand Tier and I was very conscious of players getting up and going out and coming back when their section came into play. This happened more than once. My musical companion assured me it was normal. I thought it rude and distracting.

 

Thank you all members of this site it is such a joy to be a part of such a knowledgeable group. Cancer is a vile illness, with wonderful careers, with ongoing pain. Here I forget illness as I do at performances. This is not a comment for sympathy just to let you all know how much pleasure a place to learn, disagree and agree can give. I am now looking forward to Jewels Insight and Sleeping Beauty in my wheelchair ! Thanks ROH wonderful Access Scheme.

[LinMM]

Which day are you seeing Beauty Jillykins?

[capybara]

I also wanted to say how much I have enjoyed, and learned from, the discourse on here related to Woolf Works. Thank you everyone 

[Jillykins]

LinMm I am going to Sleeping Beauty 23 Feb. Have wheelchair space Stalls Circle left. My lovely husband is trundling me up to London. Really looking forward to it!

[Duck]

I went through a whole phase of reading books by Virginia Woolf around two years ago (not that I consider myself to be well read, though  ), partly triggered by the then wording about Woolf Works on the ROH web site. There was something about “synesthetic collision”, and I feared at the time that I’d be completely lost without additional information.

 

The first book was Mrs Dalloway, simply because this was being sold at the National Portrait Gallery shop when they had an exhibition about Virginia Woolf a few months before the premiere of Woolf Works – and I loved it, her ability to describe an activity, a thought or an observation in such great detail that it goes on page after page. I could see, hear, feel the flurry of activity – the clocks, the bells, the busy streets, and became drawn into the emotions of Mrs Dalloway, Peter and Septimus (and was so much hoping – in vain - that Mrs Dalloway and Peter would finally be able to come together). It was as if I had been there with them – in the street, in the park, in the house. Encouraged by this experience, I went on to read Orlando – very different in style, funny, witty, full of historic references, and at times a bit lengthy. Followed by The Waves – more challenging initially as the narrator changes all the time and thus often describes the same situation from different angles, however completely exhilarating following the first couple of chapters, once I got used to the style of writing. Finally The Lighthouse – the most difficult for me from those that I read as I found that the activity develops very slowly.

 

I had finished Mrs Dalloway and Orlando before the premiere of Woolf Works and just started The Waves. Reading the books was preparation – looking to learn more about the base layer, and thus hopefully able to understand more of what was going on during the performance. In relation to Mrs Dalloway, knowledge of the book helped identify the characters on stage (bearing in mind that in the book, Mrs Dalloway and Septimus don’t meet). As for The Waves, I found the references to crashing waves and the turmoil of emotions at the end of most chapters very helpful (however got confused by the children and the role danced by Sarah Lamb … this is I guess where the non-narrative aspects take over). With regards to Orlando, I took the theme of gender change as represented through the repeated change in costumes and the fact that, towards the end, they all look the same, perform similar movements, and it’s difficult to tell who is who.

 

Having said all of that, I am positive a summary of Mrs Dalloway and information about the general themes of Orlando and The Waves would have been sufficient as Woolf Works is non-narrative, and yet I hugely enjoyed discovering some of Woolf's works. Each book that I read was so different in style, and so each one was a discovery in itself. I guess the downside even of having read the books is that I sometimes overly compared the contents of the book with what I saw on stage (though this might be just me, my day job involving analysis, planning, organising) - which, as the work is non-narrative, is bound to be of limited use. The part that I nearly missed out in my preparation, however, was reading about Virginia Woolf herself – it was only then that I learnt about her bouts of depression and her suicide by drowning in the river Ouse. So reading the books was useful albeit more than necessary, and hugely enjoyable; ultimately my reading would have been incomplete, however, without taking into account Virginia Woolf’s life, too.

 

--- edited to amend the last sentence

Edited February 14, 2017 by Duck