Sir Peter Wright - the (auto)biography

[alison]

Hmm, yes, rather odd.

[Melody]

Oh dear. Maybe one of the subjects of his less than positive opinions has sued or something. It's a pity if it's permanently discontinued because it's a really interesting account of the development of British ballet.

 

Just wondering if I should hide my copy in case the Book Police come searching for it so they can shred it...

Edited September 7, 2016 by Melody

[Two Pigeons]

Whether or not he is being sued I think it is a brave man who puts in print his opinion that Deborah Macmillan has damaged some of her husband's ballets.

[bridiem]

It's still on Amazon this morning, as the No 1 best seller in classical dance. I don't know why the book has been withdrawn - or whether that is permanent - but its author is clearly held in very high esteem by lovers of classical dance.

[Two Pigeons]

Could it just be that the initial print run was pretty limited and the book has turned out to be much more popular than expected?

[Fiz]

I have bought a second hand "good as new and unread" copy just in case it is withdrawn.

[Sim]

Could it just be that the initial print run was pretty limited and the book has turned out to be much more popular than expected?

 

I would love it if that were the reason! ☺

[Two Pigeons]

me too!

 

It is interesting that Amazon has some readers' reviews on its pages.  as I remember there are 4, 1 negative but the other 3 seemed to enjoy the book. However the American site they are all pretty negative and unfortunately I think this reflects that Sir Peter's main achievements, both his productions of the Nutcracker and - mainly - his days as director of SWRB and BRB have little or no relevance to an American readership.

 

I think this just shows how Royal Balletcentric most overseas ballet goers are when it comes to British ballet.  

[Ivy Lin]

Hi I am writer of one of the negative reviews on Amazon (American). I'm writing to say that I didn't give a negative review of Peter Wright's book because I don't respect his accomplishments (I do). I just felt that the book showed off the author in a very petty, unflattering light. For instance Peter Wright can't understand why Svetlana Beriosova cooled towards him but goes into such detail about an embarrassing incident in her career? He says Ashton waved at him in a "homosexual" way? It's not fun to read a memoir of someone who seems so ungenerous in his views towards other people. It's not the same as being candid -- I have no doubt that Sylvie Guillem or Rudolf Nureyev could be difficult. It's just Wright's constant negative, ungenerous opinion of others (and his inflated view of himself) that I found off-putting. I very much looked forward to his memoirs so I was very disappointed when it was little more than a gossipy diatribe.

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Ivy and welcome to the Forum!

[SwissBalletFan]

I have read 3/4 of the book, and I think firstly that Sir Peter Wright releasing an autobiography was a great idea, as he has so much experience and stories to tell. I think he seems a person who is expects a lot of himself, and is generally self critical. I found there were great things in the book, and it was a great insight (for example into the sales of the ROH cinema worldwide being so small,and not very profitable), it reads however as though he has been given a microphone and the result was an unedited version of how he speaks. 

 

To me it was reminiscent of meeting him after a performance, and you realise how lucky you are to be drinking a sherry with him afterwards, he speaks a lot and is very long winded, but you keep listening because he is a legend. Then, as he sips another sherry, you feel uncomfortable as he tells his very open views on legends of ballet, Ashton, Macmillan, and especially Macmillan's wife. I leave at 5am (it was a long book) somewhat tired, felling that it was really interesting, but disappointed, that with all of the knowledge Sir Wright has, it verges on the negative and direct opinions of much loved icons of British ballet. I see him a week later and he says, 'sorry old boy, I got a bit tipsy and shouldn't have said some of the things I said' I say, I have written down all of the thoughts and released them as a book. 

 

Sadly he visits BRB and ROH and walks around saying hello, but society looks at him bit suspiciously and disappointed and what he has said, and he realises how sometimes 'i just tell it how it is' and direct view, will really hurt the feelings of some very important people in the ballet world, and also those who read the result.

 

I feel it was a misjudged attempt at a memoir for such a distinguished gentleman, and that may be the reason it has been removed, I think he may have some guilt about it's impact.

Edited September 9, 2016 by SwissBalletFan

[FLOSS]

I can't help saying that I am disappointed by Sir Peter's memoir which really would have benefited from a great deal of serious editing. It reads like a first draft of a book whose author can't make up his mind whether he is writing a book about his life and career, his ideas about how and why nineteenth century ballets need to be edited for modern audiences or anecdotes about the great and the good of British ballet with whom he has worked. Unfortunately the result is that he falls between all three stools. 

 

 I understand that all memoirs are to a greater or lesser extent unreliable and have to be approached with caution as they provide the author with the opportunity to play the hero, rearrange and rewrite the past and to settle old scores, if the author feels so inclined. The whole thing feels like a lost opportunity because we are unlikely to see another book from Sir Peter.He could have told us considerably more than he has chosen to do about working with Kurt Joos, his company and his dance works and whether any of them apart from the Green Table deserve revival  and we should have been grateful.

 

Rather than anecdotes he could have told us more about his experiences with the RB  and SWTB in the 1950's and the early years of ballet on television how and why the BBC chose to film and broadcast ballet and the amount of compromise, editing  and tweaking that was entailed in making them suitable for the small screen. More significantly instead of  anecdote about Nureyev, Ashton, de Valois et al, he could have given us some real insights into their significance for example he could have told us how Nureyev's presence affected male dancing in this country and his impact on the choreographic texts being danced by the RB. I assume that it was he who introduced the Sergeyev male variation into Act 3 of the Sleeping Beauty. What did it replace and what was the general response to the change?

 

If he wanted to write about Beriosova he might have tried to give an account of her which would have helped those who never saw her understand what made her such an incomparable dancer. At a time when there is so much emphasis on the athletic and sport aspects of dance it might make the audience curious about older more graceful forms of the art   As it is, for me, it is the sections which are relatively anecdote free which are most successful. The section about his time in Stuttgart is useful as it fills in some gaps in my knowledge. I can't help thinking that there was potentially a much better book hidden among all the anecdotes and at ninety years of age we are unlikely to see another book from Sir Peter. He has seen so much and yet he has told us so little of real lasting value..

[bridiem]

I have yet to read this book (I have it and hope to do so soon), I have a huge amount of respect for Sir Peter, and I have no wish at all to be ageist; but I do wonder if Sir Peter's advanced age might be relevant here. We all know that sometimes age reduces inhibitions, and causes memories to be brought forth and/or expressed in ways that might not have happened in earlier years. Sir Peter is also not a professional writer. So I have an increasing feeling from the reports that I have read that he may have been very ill served by his editors/publisher etc.

[Mary]

I enjoyed reading the book, but share the view that it really did need proper editing.Topics and themes recur, sometimes rather randomly, throughout, so that it is dangerous to assume the summing up in one chapter is the last word for posterity on a subject.

This might account for the way some reviews do rather misrepresent the views in the book. The Spectator review makes two quite strong points by quoting one remark rather than another. For example, it claims that Sir Peter 'witholds judgement'on the new RB Director but in fact in several places he makes strongly positive and supportive statements about Kevln O'Hare and the good job he is doing-e.g. at the end ('with Kevin at the helm the way ahead looks good and exciting') . It also brackets together 3 ballerinas as being rudely dismissed by him- but this is at best a great simplification of much more nuanced comments,  and in fact he makes appreciative comments about Alina Cojocaru .

The book might have been properly crafted and put together. On the other hand it does have a certain immediacy which, as others have said, sometimes gives the impression of listening to a late night monologue, which I found rather enjoyable.  Also, the great love for ballet that shines through redeems a great deal.  Sir Peter must know The Nutcracker better than most of us. Yet he says that hearing some parts of the 'glorious' music  has the power to make him believe in God. How marvellous to still feel like that.

[loveclassics]

I am currently reading this and have to say there is a lot of truth in the comments made by Floss and Mary.  Enjoyable though it is, it really would have benefitted from better editing and proof-reading.  No disrespect to Paul Arrowsmith who has captured so much good material but maybe a non-ballet fan should have done the final edit?  It just needs re-organising IMHO.

 

Linda

 

Ed for spelling.

Edited September 17, 2016 by loveclassics

[Jane S]

Debra Craine has a long piece about Peter Wright  in this morning's Times, which includes the news that a paperback version of his book is in preparation, and that he thinks it will be much better as he didn't have time to edit the hardback version properly.

[bridiem]

Debra Craine has a long piece about Peter Wright  in this morning's Times, which includes the news that a paperback version of his book is in preparation, and that he thinks it will be much better as he didn't have time to edit the hardback version properly.

 

I hope the paperback is an improvement. I was so disappointed by the hardback. There was interesting material in it, but it was very disorganised. Above all I was taken aback by the many unpleasant comments, often personal and unnecessary, especially about people who are still around (and with whom Sir Peter must sometimes still have contact, which seems a bit odd). The tone of the book really spoilt it for me. I wondered if Sir Peter had been encouraged to be as waspish as possible and hadn't really thought through the consequences.

[Jane S]

He also says he got a few facts wrong in the hardback, which will be corrected in the paperback, scheduled for mid-2017.

[alison]

Debra Craine has a long piece about Peter Wright  in this morning's Times, which includes the news that a paperback version of his book is in preparation, and that he thinks it will be much better as he didn't have time to edit the hardback version properly.

 

That was pretty much what he said at the Ballet Association the other month, too.  Knowing people who work in the industry, I can understand the pressure exerted by printing schedules, and have a degree of sympathy with their "victims".

[Odyssey]

Overall I enjoyed this account of Sir Peter's life in dance. Yes it needed a firm edit but I found many of his assessments refreshingly honest. He may not be right on all counts and I can imagine he has ruffled more than a few feathers in the way he has chosen to comment on events and revered figures from the ballet world but my overall impression was his respect and admiration for the people he has worked with. There are relatively few comprehensive recent published accounts about working within the Royal Ballet or the Birmingham Royal Ballet so this in itself makes the volume a welcome read . Although I have to admit to the guilty pleasure of lapping up his anecdotes which at times come across as a gossipy chat behind closed doors, his observations about life on tour shine a light on the pressures and constraints that touring places on the whole company. One example would be his description of Doreen Wells valiantly dancing Aurora outdoors in the South of France when the evening dew made the stage steadily more hazardous as the evening wore on, with an audience oblivious to the problem starting to laugh as she began to "fall about". It is interesting to hear that there will be a revised paperback version. I hope it doesn't become so sanatised that the spirit of the original is lost.

[Sim]

Having paid the full whack for the hardback, which I have just finished reading and feel disappointed with (largely because of the abysmal editing), it is very annoying that a 'better' version is to be published. Why not just do it right in the first place? I (and many others) are now stuck with a second-rate version at a first-rate price.

[bangorballetboy]

Having paid the full whack for the hardback, which I have just finished reading and feel disappointed with (largely because of the abysmal editing), it is very annoying that a 'better' version is to be published. Why not just do it right in the first place? I (and many others) are now stuck with a second-rate version at a first-rate price.

 

I have the hardback for my reading on the beach this Christmas!