Birmingham Royal Ballet Shakespeare Bill - Summer & Autumn Tour 2016

[Jan McNulty]

I've seen three performances of Birmingham Royal Ballet's Shakespeare's Triple Bill this week.

 

Jessica Lang's Wink premiered on midscale and I very much enjoyed it.  It looks much better on a bigger stage!  We only saw a few of the revolving screens on midscale, on a bigger stage there are five screens at the back and five at the side.

 

Brandon Lawrence is really spectacular as The Poet.  I particularly like his duet with Lewis Turner.  The choreography is lovely and lyrical with lots of different groupings of the dancers.  Are the revolving screens symbolising winks? ...

 

The Moor's Pavane also looks even better on the bigger stage.  With so many midscale performances under their belts the dancers have really brought out the casts.  Tyrone Singleton, Delia Matthews, Iain Mackay and Elisha Willis are all very powerful performers and bring out the nuances of the characters.  The other cast I saw this week - Cesar Morales, Yvette Knight, Chi Cao and Samara Downs are more contained in their performance but give an equally valid performance.  Chi, in particular, shows a very subtle touch, making Iago as slippery as a snake with his insinuations to Othello.

 

The evening finished with David Bintley's exuberant Shakespeare Suite.  I will never forget Robert Parker in the role of Hamlet but Mathias Dingman, Lewis Turner and particularly Lachlan Monaghan gave really good accounts of the role.  Tyrone Singleton and Elisha Willis were outstanding as Othello and Desdemona.  Jonathan Caguoia and Momoko Hirata were hilariously dotty as Bottom and Titania.

 

The orchestras sounded wonderful - the first 2 pieces were played by the BRB Sinfonia and the third by Colin Towns Mask Orchestra.

 

As well as Elisah Willis, Jonathan Caguoia is retiring from BRB after 14 years - the Birmingham stage will be a less bright place without him.  I would like to wish Jonathan all the very best for the future.

 

Here's a review from Redbrick:  http://www.redbrick.me/culture/review-birmingham-royal-ballets-shakespeare-triple-bill/

 

[nottsballetlover]

I had such a busy week at work, I just didn't get round until now to commenting on BRB's wonderful Shakespeare triple bill. Like Janet, I saw both shows on the Thursday. Both were dazzling casts in what for me was probably the most perfect triple bill I'very seen in many years in terms of how much I enjoyed all 3 pieces and how they were all so different in style but linked so cleverly by the common Shakespeare theme. Bravo BRB: you wow me again and again!

[northstar]

I attended the opening night of BRB Shakespeare Dream Bill last night at the Lowry Salford, which consisted of Ashton's The Dream, José Limón's The Moor's Pavane, and Jessica Lang's Wink. I don't think anyone has posted on this run at the Lowry yet (there will be another couple of dates in Plymouth in Oct).

 

This is a slightly different triple bill to the one danced in Birmingham in June

 

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/12884-birmingham-royal-ballet-shakespeare-triple-bill-june-2016/

 

and I understand the BRB Midscale North Tour this year contained Pavane and Wink and the Pas de Deux from Dream which has been commented on earlier

 

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/12505-birmingham-royal-ballet-midscale-north-2016/

 

and the full Dream was danced as an Ashton double bill with Month in the Country in Birmingham this year

 

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/11753-birmingham-royal-ballet-the-dream-a-month-in-the-country-birmingham-february-2016/

 

So I've been reading and enjoying other forums users' recent views on these pieces while formulating my own. I had not seen any of these pieces before, and I don't think I've ever seen an Ashton ballet before.

 

Rather appropriately it was a evening of mid-summer warmth in Salford (exceptionally warm for mid-September) and there was a full moon! I found The Dream quite charming, enchanting, and magical (though perhaps not dazzling). Momoko Hirata was Titania and Cesar Morales was Oberon. It had that essential theatrical magic that has always been the compelling part of classical ballet for me. The beautiful woodland set and costumes gave the feeling of transportation to another world, as did the choreography of the fairies and sprites and other characters in the play. The male dancing I found particularly virtuosic. The pace and drama of the story was maintained throughout and conveyed with great effect. And the fabulous music of Mendelssohn of course, enhanced by the dancing and vice-versa. I was surprised at the overall power and effect of this ballet - I thought I might find it twee and dull.

 

By comparison I'm afraid I must be honest and say I found Pavane and Wink a bit thin by comparison. I'm prepared to admit I may be narrow minded but both pieces seemed to lack the essential theatre of ballet that I'm irredeemably addicted to. The classical dancing in Wink of course I could admire, it's a tremendous showcase for the beauty and technique of the BRB dancers, but I found it austere and dull, lacking in drama and magic. Pavane again I found austere despite the richness of the costumes, and while some of the dramatic miming and postures were momentarily effective, much of it to me felt quite mannered and contrived, an unconvincing melodrama. I often feel I need to broaden my tastes in dance, but I didn't quite manage to stretch them this evening. 

 

Just wanted to take another opportunity to say how much I will miss Elisha Willis, this is the first BRB performance I have seen since she retired, and I'm still coming to terms with the fact I won't see her dancing in the company any longer. Of course there are many exceptional dancers in BRB still to enjoy but I had a particular admiration for Willis.

Edited September 16, 2016 by northstar

[EAB]

I attended the matinee yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the performance, always good to start the new season of ballet at this time of year and look forward to all the 'treats' ahead.

Having watched Wink from the right hand side of the auditorium in the summer, it was good to see it from a more central position and see exactly what was happening in that right hand corner. I like this ballet, lovely classical movement with a modern twist and so well danced by BRB. Pavane only lasts 23 minutes but really weaves a powerful spell for me, and so well danced with Brandon Lawrence  and Iain Mackay as the Moor and his 'friend'. 

How many times have I seen The Dream, too many to remember and I have the privilege of remembering Anthony Dowell and Antoinette Sibley in the main roles. I have always enjoyed this ballet, how can you not, and I thought William Bracewell and Jenna Roberts excellent in their roles. 

Before the performance BRB ran a family event and it was interesting to see Kit Holder make up for Bottom and be able to examine some of the costumes. How I wish I was still a little girl and could actually try on a tutu!

[Sim]

Welcome to the forum, Anne! Many thanks for the review; we look forward to more. ☺

[Jan McNulty]

The Lowry is a close as it gets as a local theatre for me to see BRB so I tend to over-indulge whenever the company are appearing there.  No surprise to my friends then that I had booked for all the performances.

 

I just adore this triple bill, there is so much to see and be enriched by.  As a Friend of the company I was able to attend the rehearsal on Thursday afternoon and it was particularly interesting to see The Moor's Pavane "out of costume".  I have enjoyed the performances I have already seen, appreciating the intensity of the plotting but I don't think I had appreciated just how intricate the choreography is in its own right without the costumes.  Alongside The Dream, The Moor's Pavane is a masterpiece in the distillation of the essential elements of Shakespeare's work and what a privilege to have these two ballets on the same programme.

 

The programme starts with Wink, created for midscale by Jessica Lang and using 5 Shakespeare sonnets.  I have seen a number of performances now and I have loved this work more with every viewing.  It is a rich tapestry of inventive choreography and I have seen more in it every time.  Two casts were performing this week and they gave a very different feel to the piece.  It never ceases to amaze me that different dancers can make the same choreography look so different...  There is one dancer (The poet) who pulls the whole piece together as a whole - this role taken by both Brandon Lawrence and Cesar Morales.  Brandon has a very special quality of movement that I find just breath-taking and there are a number of shivers down the spine moments.  Cesar has a very classical style and brings a spirituality to the role.  I can't wait to see this piece again!

 

The BRB dancers have grown into The Moor's Pavane since it opened on midscale in May and we were treated to some very powerful performances.  Iain Mackay is absolutely unmissable as The Moor's Friend, his attention to detail is quite stunning.  Tyrone Singleton and Brandon Lawrence both give wonderfully anguished, jealous performances as the tortured Moor.  Delia Matthews, Yvette Knight and Jenna Roberts are sublime as The Moor's Wife and Samara Downs and Yijing  Zhang scintillate as Friend's wife.  The performances were certainly ones to savour.

 

The Dream is 60 minutes of perfection, 60 minutes of bliss...  I had seen William Bracewell in the role of Oberon during the company's last outing and enjoyed his performance.  This past week he showed just how much he has matured as an artist and he has firmly become my favourite Oberon ever!  He and Jenna Roberts were a match made in heaven as Oberon and Titania.  Yesterday afternoon's performance of their reconciliation duet moved me to tears it was so beautiful.  We saw three splendid Pucks in Mathias Dingman, Tzu-Chao Chou and James Barton and lots of wonderful lovers too.  Thursday afternoon and yesterday afternoon's performances led by William and Jenna are the best two performances of The Dream I can ever remember seeing.

 

Yes, it was a wonderful few days and now I am looking forward to The Tempest!

[alison]

Thanks, Janet.  I'm glad to hear of Bracewell's maturing in the role - I think he was the most impressive Oberon of those I saw in Birmingham (and maybe elsewhere?) last time around.

[Bruce Wall]

Just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's London opening at Sadler's Wells of BRB's Shakespeare Triple Bill.  The only truly disheartening thing was the sea of red that was all too plainly obvious in the Second Gallery.  From the sound of the applause (albeit zealous with enthusiasm) ranks were a tad thin elsewhere.  These dancers - and the works they excitingly interpreted - deserved better attendance.  (What is the world coming to I wonder?  When I attended a phenomenal performance by this Company of Ashton's A Month in the Country paired with his Dream not too long ago ... the Hippodrome too was hugely underpopulated.  My heart cries out because these extraordinary opportunities - and every seat tonight was just that; a cherish-able opportunity - should not be squandered.  Not by a long shot.)

 

Jessica Lange's WINK glistened in the musicality of its choreographic language - and Brandon Lawrence incisively glowed as its central poet.  The soul of the five sonnets featured was brought to vivid life by the whole Company with the short sequence danced between Lawrence and Lewis Turner being particularly searing I thought.   Among the women - all fine - Delia Mathews was majestic in everything she commanded ... but then that was true of each of her performances in all three works presented; twice appearing - as happily she did - as Desdemona.  What a fine artist this young lady is.  

 

I was keen to see Limon's THE MOOR'S PAVANE again ... and time has served my memory of its dramatic thrusts well.  (The last time I saw this work the two male leads were taken by Nureyev - who was a particularly fine Moor I recall - and Erik Bruhn).  Tonight's depictions were etched by an equally dazzling ensemble and the revelatory Tyrone Singleton was certainly every inch a general betrayed ... with the focus of Iain MacKay's dazzlingly detailed 'Friend' being a dramatic work in and of itself.  Bravi!

 

I had seen Bintley's THE SHAKESPEARE SUITE before - around the time it was first created - and was happy to receive it's wit again - especially as accompanied by Duke Ellington's enticingly vivid score oh, so finely wrought in the hands of Colin Towns' Mask Orchestra.  A joy.  A true joy.  The standouts for me this evening were the Hamlet of of Mathias Dingman - another dynamic artist who only ever gets better it seems - if such a phenomena is imaginable - and William Bracewell who exquisitely partnered Jenna Roberts' dewy eyed Juliet.

 

If you can make either of the remaining two performances tomorrow I think you will find a goodly amount to enjoy.  Certainly I would give it my hearty recommendation alongside a goodly few others above.  

Edited October 10, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[Jan McNulty]

Bruce - I've slightly amended the title of the original thread and moved your post back in.  As there is only one ballet difference between the 2 programmes it seems sensible to keep the posts together.  I have, therefore, hidden your second posting.

[alison]

Is the running order as Bruce indicates above, please?

[Jan McNulty]

It was in Birmingham in June.

[alison]

Darn.  I was hoping for a couple of looks at The Moor's Pavane.  Not sure I can make it this way round.

[Jan McNulty]

Darn.  I was hoping for a couple of looks at The Moor's Pavane.  Not sure I can make it this way round.

 

 

The Moor's Pavane is in the middle of this shortish programme.

[Beryl H]

Nice to see BRB again, and some different ballets, liked Wink very much, choreography wise this was my favourite of the three, Brandon Lawrence stood out, he seemed to be the central figure, the poet perhaps?  Although I accept that The Moor's Pavane is a masterpiece I have never really warmed to it apart from the music, Tyrone Singleton was the perfect Othello though, the men in general made more impression on me last night.  In the past I didn't like The Shakespeare Suite much either but my tastes towards jazz must have changed as I thoroughly enjoyed it last night, the Richard the Third and Macbeth duets were very funny, best of all were Momoko Hirata and Kit Holder as Titania and Bottom, and Tyrone Singleton and Delia Mathews as Othello and Desdemona again! Great dancing from Mathias Dingman as Hamlet at the beginning and end.

 

The programme is good value because it contains information not only on the whole week's ballets, but The Dream too.

[bridiem]

Just to say that I enjoyed Wink, didn't much enjoy The Shakespeare Suite (though I thought Titania and Bottom were funny, and I liked Lady Macbeth), but I ABSOLUTELY LOVED The Moor's Pavane. So beautiful, restrained, stylish, powerful. Gorgeous costumes and music and wonderful performances. Just brilliant.

[Mary]

At today's matinee I liked Wink very much, though thought it would have been better without the irritating stage furniture- making the dancers mess about with screen things really does not add to the choreography.  I found it interesting that I could not listen to the sonnets readings and concentrate on the dance at the same time. Maybe I am getting old or maybe it is about the way the brain works. I find I need all my attention on the dance.

Brandon Lawrence shone with his elegant, musical dancing.

The Moor's Pavane was well danced but perhaps I was too far away and found it a little hard to engage with this chamber piece. or maybe it just didn't quite work this afternoon. Others applauded very warmly so I think this was possibly  just me.

 

This was my first viewing of the Shakespeare Suite and I thought it had good moments. The Hamlet sections were for me the only really succesful parts as the music, costume and style made sense by casting Hamlet as a kind of 50s existentialist, suave and hep in black- which was a  witty and appropriate concept and really fabulously danced by Lachlan Monaghan- new to me but I shall be watching out for him now. Otherwise I was not sure the music-Duke Ellington jazz- really worked for the rest of the piece.

I very much admired Tyrone Singleton's great stage presence once again, but disliked very much the choreography of the  Othello section- just quite inappropriate music and staging for the story in my view. Desdemona smothered in full view to jolly jazz dance tunes- not good taste.

I found the Shrew and Titania/Bottom sequences too similar and the merry prancing a bit boring after a while.The Macbeths were much more effective especially the lovely Celine Gittens' Lady Macbeth- very powerful and full of menace.

The finale  when all the characters wove in and out in character and then surged together had great power and inventiveness.

 BRB has some really super dancers. The show was fantastically  good value for £14 ( with a 20% multiple booking reduction). How sad to see so many empty seats upstairs- a real shame.

Looking forward to The Tempest

[alison]

I was disappointed that the programme didn't print the sonnets in question: I could have done with reading them before the performance, because trying to take them in while watching the dancing, as Mary says, was something I found difficult.  Also, I suspect that Wink is better appreciated from above: at ground level, if you happen to be sitting in the wrong place, the screens get in the way of the dancers rather too much.  It was intriguing, and I would like a chance to get to know it better.

 

I found that The Moor's Pavane worked rather better seen close-to, Mary, so that may have had something to do with your lack of appreciation.  I was also surprised that, unlike in previous years, there didn't seem to be any discount for the weekday matinee performance: that can't have encouraged people to come (and I didn't register any school groups), especially if they were already going to see The Tempest.  Possibly too much Shakespeare all in one go?

[Bruce Wall]

Just wanted to say that I managed to see all three of the BRB Shakespeare Triple Bill performances.  So glad I did.  

 

Highlight for me in the matinee had to be Lachlan Monaghan's Hamlet.  This lad is a star in the making.  Of that there can be no question.  No question AT ALL!!  He was inspired and showed a maturity that I suspect is far beyond his (dancing) years.  

 

The evening show was a wow in its totality.  TOTALLY.  

 

Momoko Hirata vividly corsucated as the Dark Lady of the Sonnets in Wink ... but the standout performance for me HAD TO BE Brandon Lawrence as The Moor in The Moor's Pavane.  This lad has it ALL.  What can't he do?  The soulful detail of Othello's psychosis hissed like a stream of steam heat rising from its griddle from the very get go ... and Lawrence's impactful relationship with 'The Friend' (Iago) - in the vastly skilled/articulate hands of Iain Mackay - was allowed to simmer and then fire .. but never once to burn out of control which in lesser hands I imagine it might well do..  In The Shakespeare Suite Laura Day delighted as a not entirely sober Titania in rustic love with her Bottom (a high kicking and ear bopping James Barton).  Beatrice Parma once again - for the third time - etched a zealous mite of a Kate; one here stunningly partnered - in all senses of that word - by the aforemention and (again) hugely talented Lachlan Monaghan - as a very determined Petruchio.  

 

A hearty 'Well Done' for ALL.  What a fine Company you've yet again proven yourself to be.  

 

Hurry back soon with more ravishing triple bills like this one.  PLEASE.  

 

We'll certainly be glad that you did.  

Edited October 11, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[aileen]

I had longed wanted to see The Moor's Pavane and found it an intriguing piece this evening. It's very clever the way that the action is interspersed with the formalised dance. The costumes were beautiful (and so effective against the plain black background) and the tableau which greeted you when the curtain rose at the beginning was stunning. All the characters were well delineated but Brandon Lawrence dominated them all. I'd love to see it again.

 

I very much enjoyed Wink (which featured several of my fave dancers) and I agree with Alison that reading the sonnets in advance would have helped illuminate the piece.

 

I enjoyed Shakespeare Suite quite a lot more than I thought I would. Some sections were more enjoyable than others. I fully appreciate Mary's point about the tastelessness of the choreography in the Othello section but I have to say that Brandon Lawrence as Othello (again) was very compelling in it. The Macbeth section was also gruesome too, of course, with a silhouette of Macbeth stabbing some hapless person. I suppose that these two sections did provide some variety in tone otherwise the whole work might have been relentlessly upbeat.

 

I thought that the audience was very cool this evening although it did warm up as the evening went on and was very appreciative of Shakespeare Suite. The man on one side of me hardly applauded at all. I was irritated by the audience for another reason as well: some audience members seemed to take it as a personal affront that I might need / want to pass them to go into or out of the auditorium. I know that some people don't leave their seats during the intervals (and that's fair enough) but they should not regard those who wish to do as some sort of aberration or nuisance.

[alison]

I was irritated by the audience for another reason as well: some audience members seemed to take it as a personal affront that I might need / want to pass them to go into or out of the auditorium. I know that some people don't leave their seats during the intervals (and that's fair enough) but they should not regard those who wish to do as some sort of aberration or nuisance.

 

Hear, hear!  I'm afraid that years of experience since they got rid of the centre aisles at Sadler's have led me to buy seats on the sides: before, if I was centre row inevitably most of the other occupants of the row wouldn't go out during the intervals and I'd have to push past most of them.

[Mary]

I was disappointed that the programme didn't print the sonnets in question: I could have done with reading them before the performance, because trying to take them in while watching the dancing, as Mary says, was something I found difficult.  Also, I suspect that Wink is better appreciated from above: at ground level, if you happen to be sitting in the wrong place, the screens get in the way of the dancers rather too much.  It was intriguing, and I would like a chance to get to know it better.

 

I found that The Moor's Pavane worked rather better seen close-to, Mary, so that may have had something to do with your lack of appreciation.  I was also surprised that, unlike in previous years, there didn't seem to be any discount for the weekday matinee performance: that can't have encouraged people to come (and I didn't register any school groups), especially if they were already going to see The Tempest.  Possibly too much Shakespeare all in one go?

No matinee discount but a very generous 20% for booking 2 shows at once. My ticket was less than  a live screening. I don't think it was the price- I do think the audience would have been better for the programme including The Dream (indeed I very much wish I had seen that instead.)

 

 

Noticed there were TWO hooks in the ladies loos though so that's an extra point :-)

[Sim]

I was at the performance last night and thoroughly enjoyed all three pieces, none of which I had seen before.

 

I really liked Wink;  I can't add much to what has already been said, except that I saw it from on high and the boards weren't instrusive at all;  on the contrary, they made for great 'patterning'.  I was told that those boards represented turning pages, which would make sense in the context of the piece.  As others have mentioned, I would have liked to have read the sonnets first, especially since I found quite a few of the words were muffled.  I don't know if that was the reader or the sound system, but either way, having the words would have enhanced it for me.

 

I absolutely loved The Moor's Pavane.  I felt like I was transported right back to the early days of ballet, such was the stylised choreography.  The lush colours, the muted lighting, the glorious music of Purcell...it gave the impression of a Renaissance painting that had come to life.  But, underneath this beauty, there lay a dark, menacing threat in the person of Iain Mackay's "friend" (aka Iago).  He was a perfect foil to the wonderful Brandon Lawrence, whose height, dancing/acting talent and sheer good looks make him a believable, commanding and formidable presence on any stage, in any role.  Lawrence gave as good a portrayal of such a complex character as could be expected in such a short piece, and both men were ably and beautifully partnered by Jenna Roberts as Desdemona and Yijing Zhang as Iago's wife (whose gorgeous red dress I covet!).  I could have watched this piece at least three more times last night!

 

The evening finished with David Bintley's Shakespeare Suite.  I had only seen a section of this ballet, on the BBC 400 celebration earlier in the summer, so I didn't know what to expect.  I love Duke Ellington's music, and the idea of setting vignettes of some of Shakespeare's most famous characters to this music was an inspired one for me.  A literary genius and a musical genius, 400 years apart, brought together under the auspices of Bintley's cute choreography and the joyous, ebullient playing of the Duke's music by the Colin Towns' Mask Orchestra, and of course the lovely BRB dancers.  This proves once again that part of The Bard's genius is how, all these centuries later, his creations can be transposed to any place in time or space, and to any art form.  I loved Lewis Turner's Hamlet, opening and closing the piece.  I can't remember any other time that this character was presented as a jaunty young man, nor can I remember Hamlet ever making me smile and feel happy!  Once again Brandon Lawrence stood out as Othello.  Others haven't been too happy about the 'murder scene' in the Othello segment, but sadly it is what happens in the play, so there is no point in glossing over it;  the same goes for the stabbing in the Macbeth segment.  No, they are not pleasant, but Bintley is clever here in conveying the dark side of some of Shakespeare's characters, as well as the funny side.  By so doing, he ensures that the piece doesn't become a mere pastiche.   

 

Having seen Brandon Lawrence's "double dose" of Othello, I found myself wishing that someone would create a full-length ballet of this play, with Lawrence as the lead and Iain Mackay as Iago.  One can only dream....

[Bruce Wall]

 

 

Having seen Brandon Lawrence's "double dose" of Othello, I found myself wishing that someone would create a full-length ballet of this play, with Lawrence as the lead and Iain Mackay as Iago.  One can only dream....

 

Have you ever seen the Lar Lubovitch OTHELLO that was created jointly for ABT/SFB, Sim?  It was made on Desmond Richmond - who, like Mr. Lawrence - was/is a stunning artist.  I well remember Parish Maynard (who would later do work with London City Ballet and mounted a piece - if I recall correctly - for the Royal Ballet School that Mr. Lawrence himself appeared in as a student) as Iago.   It was - at least at the time of its premiere - a good but not necessarily great work I thought.  As it currently is I would love to see Mr. Lawrence in virtually anything.  

 

You can see a brief video notation on Lubovitch's Othello setting for the Joffrey here and a segment from its first act here. 

 

That said, I do think the translation of the Bard's core intent in the Limon is a work of virtual genius - and should be treasured as it is.  It is a vivid distillation.  BRB are all the richer for its possession.  I'm so glad you enjoyed it and certainly it has happily proved the test of time.  

Edited October 12, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[aileen]

Sim, I was just thinking the same thing about Othello last night. The themes of race, jealousy and domestic violence are still so relevant. The play could be written today. Has anyone done an updated version along the lines of something like West Side Story (ok, that's a musical)?

 

I thought that the whole company was on sparkling form last night.

[Bruce Wall]

People may be interested in taking a peek at the Choreographer himsef - i.e., Jose Limon - in The Moor's Pavane

 

 

Edited October 12, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[Bruce Wall]

I was thinking (always a sometimes-dangerous-sport) and found myself pondering how WONDERFUL it might be - based on the glory that is Jessica Lang's WINK for the ever stunning BRB Company - if this one act could be made into a full evening's themed work of three.  There are 154 sonnets and Lang only latched on to five of them for her piece.  (I must confess I didn't have a problem with the sonnets ... even though the observance of the cesuras in the performance of a few was at times somewhat oblique .. but then I learnt three of those five selected by heart as a schoolboy having been educated in a far off time and found myself silently reciting them along with the narrator)  

 

These works - the Sonnets - offer a world of variety ... and different themes could be plucked for both of the other two acts ... with different music employed or commissioned for each.  Certainly I very much liked Ciupinski's score for WINK.  It could be a three act ballet (say, WINK, BLUSH, SIGH ) a la Balanchine's Jewels ... and might - if it proved successful - be another BRB calling card .. and bring additional income through the licensing - both in whole and part - to other companies - such as ABT achieves for the many mountings throughout the world of Ratmansky's much lauded Shostakovitch Trilogy.    

 

Just throwing a proverbial idea 'out there'.  

Edited October 13, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[Mary]

I agree Bruce. I would like to see more variety and more colour in a 3 Act sonnets ballet though. I really admired Wink's choreography but felt it was just a little too subdued in the design.

If Brandon Lawrence was once more cast as the poet I would certainly be first in the queue for a ticket: he was stunning.