VickyPage

I'd go back to my childhood love of the The Wells books by Lorna Hill.

The Wells books were part of my childhood too, and what got me into dancing. Not all of them are that brilliant, looking back on it, but I'm not embarrassed to say that I can still very much enjoy the first two, A Dream of Sadler's Wells and Veronica at the Wells.

In terms of non-fiction, The Ballet Lover's Companion anyone? And for documentaries I seem to recall an interesting one about Misty Copeland...

[Edit: I just remembered a YA/children's book called Company of Swans, which I've not yet had a chance to read, but is definitely on this theme.]

Thanks again! Okay, I think Mab raised a good point, since my options are limited, but I will definitely make sure I book for the Marquez/Campbell, whatever else I do, since it does seem unlikely that Marquez will do that role again at the ROH. 

Thanks for your advice! It looks like we're leaning the same way, which is nice. Unfortunately, all you're making me want to do is go to everything even more. It's an Ashton ballet so it shouldn't suffer from being seen from the Upper Slips, so... You are all very bad for my impulse control!

Okay, changing the subject! I've, tragically, never seen Fille live before and I kind of want to go to every night, because all the casting looks fantastic. However, my budget cannot take that. Any suggestions on ideal casts?

Reading the Judith Mackrell interview it looks as if Osipova wants to do other projects (as well as dancing with the RB). For a start, her Wells programme is being reprised in September. She wasn't cast in Nutcracker last Christmas either and I rather think that that was her choice (I believe that she had guest appearances then).

She didn't do The Nutcracker at Christmas because she was still recovering from the injury that kept her out of last autumn's season (won't repeat the rumours I've heard about that).

I was in the Upper Slips for The Winter's Tale and I still got rustlers behind me too. Sounds like the whole auditorium was rustling away!

That said, unlike last time I was there, no one talked through the whole performance, so I suppose that was a plus. 

I've now seen it, thanks to friends who posted the YouTube clip on FB, but I'd still be interested to know when it was on so I can see what else I missed

It's on BBC iPlayer (Shakespeare Live! From the RSC) and they start dancing at around 17:25. 

Yasmine and Matthew were gorgeous. She's such a graceful dancer; she made beautiful use of her arms. And his acting was lovely, very boyish and sweet. He's getting quite tall! Such a pleasure to watch - as always, Macmillan's choreography is fantastic.

_{Sounds fantastic to me! I go to the ballet by myself, so I would love to be able to spot people by their badges and have a chat.}

Vicky, I didn't see her kill Jason, even when looking out for it the second time watching it. Was is fairly hidden?

The impression I got - which quite possibly could have been the wrong one - was that the shadows behind the curtains represented both Jason/Creusa ('the Princess') and Medea's children, so that in killing Jason/Creusa, Medea was also killing the children. The problem with that possibly wrong interpretation is that Jason, as I said before, isn't killed by Medea, Medea had two sons etc. etc. The killing of Creusa was perfectly correct though. The only other thing I guess that might have happened, which may have been what you saw, Coated, was the shadows behind the curtains representing Creusa and her father, who is also killed in Euripides' play. But in that case they really should have set up the father as a character, because it looked like it was Jason behind the curtain, and the problem with the gender of the children remains. 

And on that note I'm going to stop arguing, because I really did enjoy the first half of M-Dao, and it seems unfair to focus too exclusively on the negative side of my opinion. Every stubborn thing I say is to uphold the name of Euripides! I apologise. 

I agree with Fonty, and I think one of the things Kevin O'Hare is spectacular at is giving the younger dancers a chance to take on leading roles. I've noticed over the years that it can be very hard to get a good idea of the acting/dancing abilities of a younger dancer when they are only given small solos in classical works.

The audience at She Said were frustrating last night. They seemed unable to go for even an hour without eating, so M-Dao opened to a cacophony of rustling as various people delved into snacks. Couldn't they do that in the interval? Were they still eating from the interval? I don't know, but it was bloody annoying.

Really enjoyed last night, although it was certainly true that Fantastic Beings was a bit of a disappointment. I think it wasn't the best idea to put the dancers in swamp green, skin tight spandex. Also, it was handicapped by having so many soloists; I get that everyone should have their moment in the spotlight, but it just became hard to follow. Hard to follow was certainly true for M-Dao. I'm a huge fan of the Euripedes play, and I was disappointed to see that the ballet varied from the source text rather a lot: Medea killed Jason (in the myth he is actually killed while exploring the wreckage of the Argo) and she seemed to have a son and a daughter, as opposed to two sons? I wasn't clear about that, but from a narrative point of view, it would have been so much better if they had just taken an extra five minutes to set up the children. The harsh vocals became grating very quickly too. That said, I massively enjoyed the pas de trois between Creusa, Jason and Medea and I thought Lauretta Summerscales was fab and managed dancing with one pointe shoe on very well. I don't think I need to say how amazing Broken Wings was (definitely the best of the three). I particularly loved the Mexican Day of the Dead people and Frida's muses were gorgeous.

I don't know for sure, but Sergei cancelled a performance in February because he and Natalia needed to rehearse for Sadler's Wells, so it might be that. Or maybe she wants to take the time to recover from her injury last month, and he won't dance without her.

I was there last night. I noticed that there were some small changes to the choreography, but they were very tiny. Marianela was amazing in the trial scene, really moving and emotional. I wasn't that impressed by Gartside. His acting was good enough, but he did seem to be struggling with the physical aspects of the role. It was hard to feel sympathetic towards his Leontes, but then again, when reading the play, it's very hard to feel sympathetic towards that character. Itziar Mendizabal's Paulina was interesting. Obviously her age changed the dynamic between her and Hermione; she was fab in Act III, but it did take her a little while to warm up to the role.

I really enjoyed Act II. It's actually always been my favourite act in TWT (sorry to everyone who hates it!) and I thought that Bea Stix-Brunnell was really fantastic. Perdita can be quite a dull character and from what I'd seen on my DVD, I got the impression that the ballet's version of her was a sweet little thing without much personality. However, Stix-Brunnell gave her a little more sass and vivacity, and, I felt, was a little closer to the character in the play than Sarah Lamb. Muntagirov was good; he managed something of the persistent boyishness that the role exudes. I've been becoming more keen on Luca Acri, and last night was no exception; he was really fun and technically very good. 

Act III, as always, feels a little rushed, particularly the final pas de deux between Hermione and Leontes. I would like to see more of the recognition between Perdita and Hermione, as that moment is very important in the play. Marianela was a very forgiving Hermione, but I don't say that in a bad way - she made it work beautifully. 

I have to wonder why they announced Natalia and David Hallberg's presence when they clearly hadn't committed. Neither cancelled, they just weren't there at all. I am a little miffed; did they need to get our hopes up? 

I'm going on Friday evening as well; very excited - it looks fab! Particularly keen to see Medea, as I work on the ancient world.

She danced Hermione in the run two years ago.

Thanks; I was actually aware of this fact, but due to time and financial issues I wasn't able to go to the ballet very often in 2014, and I missed a lot, so I didn't see it. I still have a lot to learn. 

I'm going twice to see different casts! Will be interesting to see how Marianela handles Hermione; I suspect she's going to be amazing.

I'd agree that if she seems too fragile some contrast is lost, although, being pedantic, she is, despite the name, a German peasant girl....

I stand (partly) corrected. I was foolishly referring to the ballet's origin in Paris, but you (and John) are right that her origin is something of a mystery. You helpfully prompted me to look up where the ballet takes place, and I found out that Albrecht is actually from Silesia, which is mostly in Poland. So, who knows? Perhaps the ballet takes place in some mystical nowhere? 

In the past few years, I have heard so many dancers being dismissed as a bit too robust or not fragile enough for Giselle. I agree to some extent that there is something to be said for a fragile Giselle. She is, after all, not the healthiest of young ladies. However, she is also a French peasant girl, and I think it makes the mad scene so much more poignant and painful if, till that point, she is sunny and energetic. If Giselle appears to be actually on the brink of death, rather than just under some physical strain, before Albrecht's betrayal, surely we lose most of the emotion of the end of Act I? A more vibrant Giselle also adds an interesting contrast between the powerfully ethereal Giselle of Act II, and the bright, alive Giselle of Act I.

Newbie here... Season looks great, so much I want to see, but my challenge is more in finding someone willing to come with due to combination of volume/price considerations for non ballet lovers etc. Happy to sit alone (have booked for Bolshoi this summer as friends balked at prices even for Amphitheatre) but interval not much fun that way. Do you ever meet up at performances? 

 

Also, what sort of seating do you recommend? Was spoilt growing up in Manchester as my grandma always treated me - and the theatre just wasn't as expensive.  

I understand how lonely intervals can be; I always go by myself. My advice about cheap seating (I've been in and out of the Royal Opera House all my life, so I like to think this is reliable) is to go for the Upper Slips. It's cheaper than the Amphi and the view is better than way back in Row M. Everyone has their own preference though, and it may take years for you to find what works best for you personally.

It will be interesting to see how Bourne copes with the staging of the ballet in a live production. In the film, a lot of the most poignant moments are filming tricks and things that couldn't easily translate into live performance. 

I confess I'm mostly furious about the lack of casting (which I partly blame the Bolshoi themselves for), but I too can foresee a lot of problems with the website on the morning of 12th as well. I'll be very surprised if the site doesn't crash, which will almost certainly lead to people getting stuck in the queue. Would it have been so hard for them to open general booking on a different day?