English National Ballet - Giselle (Khan) - Autumn 2016

[Fonty]

Presumably they will be bringing this Giselle back to London at some point?

[bridiem]

Presumably they will be bringing this Giselle back to London at some point?

 

It's coming back to Sadler's Wells in September 2017 and booking is already open (in fact a lot of tickets are gone! I just checked).

[zxDaveM]

Thought Madison Keesler this afternoon was compellingly wonderful. For me, it's a jaw dropping production, in which she gave a shut my mouth so my jaw can drop again, type performance. Give her more to do, Tamara!

[Sim]

Sadly I couldn't see Madison in Giselle, but I love everything she does.  A lovely dancer, with such an expressive face, and puts such emotion into all her roles.  I second Dave's post....please give her more, Tamara!  

[Sim]

It's coming back to Sadler's Wells in September 2017 and booking is already open (in fact a lot of tickets are gone! I just checked).

 

You're kidding?!  Oh no....just when I thought I had finished all my ticket spending for a while!  Aaarrggghhh!  No casting I suppose, so I guess it's just pot luck!  

[capybara]

Just want to echo the post about Madison being wonderful this afternoon. Indeed, this line up was absolutely, and coherently, superb. Huge kudos to Ken Saruhashi as Hilarion as well. Another ENB artist we need to see more of.

[Bruce Wall]

Went to my second viewing of Akram Khan's Giselle last night.  Unlike FLOSS I did find the opening performance 'compelling' ... but I confess at somewhat of a remove.  

 

Last night - mesmerised by the catalytic performance of Alina Cojocaru in the title role - I felt no such restraint; I was entirely enthralled.  

 

I had come round.  

 

On my way back home I pondered why this might be.  Just what was the difference that had so marked my response?  

 

I sensed it was the vulnerability - be it in joy or distraction - that lay at the heart of Ms. Cojocaru's tenaciously shatterable turn.  I have always felt that Giselle was one of her very best roles - and here that magic was entirely enforced.  Without hesitation; it was enriched.  Moreover her radiance throughout made the variety of responses of all other characters in her surround - including that of the world class ENB ensemble itself - and indeed the narrative of this piece - so much more clear; much more at a one.  Cojocaru's was - at least for me - a defining turn.  

 

Perhaps for this reason I found Isaac Hernandez's Albrecht simply outstanding.  While his dancing was fine indeed - you could immediately sense this character's own vulnerability and just why his character's pact with this Giselle was a life bond.  Together they defined intimacy.  From start to finish this Albrecht was as assailable as the dropped glove of Begona Cao's living death of a Bathilde. Both Hernandez and Cojocaru had been literally backed up against it. In all their humane susceptibility seethed.  

 

In a similar sense - and equally alighted by the openness of Cojocaru's ever lambent fuse - the incandescent Oscar Chacon - a dancer I had only ever seen once before in a riveting performance of Song of the Wayfarer by the Bejart Company - was here too - as Hilarion - clearly born to be obsessed by the blackly carnal manner of his own roots.  Chacon's Hilarion became for all the world - or at least for me - the very picture of that concentration camp prisoner who'd lost the key to his own life's humility by selling out. Now he simply shovelled underground barely breathing corpses for his own meagre survival. For once the Willis' eye popping determination as towards his own destruction - exquisitely wrought by Khan - was more than self wrought, it was entirely deserved.  Suddenly - at least for me - it made sense.  (Now there's a turn for the above scribbled passages.)  

 

ALL these characters were, as t'were, up against the same wall; and oh, what a wall - on both sides.  (Side note:  Stunning design all round - with a special nod to Mark Henderson's sculptural lighting design - an art unto itself.)  

 

All that being said - the TRUE standout performance - in both of those I have thus far been privileged to see - had to be Stina Quagebeur's Myrtha.  This stellar artist dominated in Wagnerian proportion.  Hers was a truly world class performance.  It will live with me for a long time I know.  Brava!  

 

Indeed:  Bravi!!

 

Yet again we have so, SO very much to thank Ms. Rojo for.  

 

Addendum - At one point last night my eye was caught by Barry Drummond in the ensemble.  It was attracted by his enormous commitment to the whole.  For me this young dancer really came into his ENB own in Forsythe's innervating 'Somewhere in the Middle'.  There - as in Akram Khan's Giselle - his detail was striking.  I would love to see him at some point have a chance to offer our world - or at least of the UK - (however it may in the relatively near future be defined) - his Hilarion.  I have a suspicion it too might well bewitch.  

Edited November 19, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[capybara]

 

Last night - mesmerised by the catalytic performance of Alina Cojocaru in the title role - I felt no such restraint; I was entirely enthralled.  

 

I had come round.  

 

On my way back home I pondered why this might be.  Just what was the difference that had so marked my response?  

 

I sensed it was the vulnerability - be it in joy or distraction - that lay at the heart of Ms. Cojocaru's tenaciously shatterable turn.  I have always felt that Giselle was one of her very best roles - and here that magic was entirely enforced.  Without hesitation; it was enriched.  Moreover her radiance throughout made the variety of responses of all other characters in her surround - including that of the world class ENB ensemble itself - and indeed the narrative of this piece - so much more clear; much more at a one.  Cojocaru's was - at least for me - a defining turn.  

 

 

Yes, Alina Cojocaru in this production of Giselle has reminded us all not only that she is THE Giselle among Giselles but that she is the most amazingly versatile artist. What a performance.

 

I didn't want to start to clap because I was too taken up with her - with it all. But I almost wish that each Giselle had been given a solo curtain call before everyone came on.

[Sim]

Alina's performance last night was so very emotional, so moving, so natural.....her 'classical' Giselle is probably the best I've seen (with Osipova's a near equal), and she transfers all of the things that make that Giselle so compelling to the Khan version.  She exudes every emotion possible through every movement, every look, every pdd.  You are angry with her, you are sad with her, you are passionate with her, you are resigned with her, your emotions make you feel as faded as Giselle's soul and lifeblood by the end of the ballet.  Like Capybara, I just wanted to sit there for a minute at the end, but the applause started as soon as the curtain started moving, and who am I to want to deny her and the whole cast the ovation they deserved?!  Isaac Hernandez was wonderful, and there was so much natural chemistry between him and Alina.  I really felt his desolation, especially when he realised that not only had he lost his love, but his baby too.  That moment alone almost made me cry.  I also liked Oscar Chacon's Hilarion, but for me no-one could live up to Cesar Corrales' interpretation.  Stina Quagebeur was once again an imperious, dominant, spectral Myrthe;  I could have watched her boureeing all night.  

 

Each time you see this ballet, there are new things to see, and new things to make you think, and wonder, and feel.  This is what ballet is, for me, all about.

[capybara]

Each time you see this ballet, there are new things to see, and new things to make you think, and wonder, and feel.  This is what ballet is, for me, all about.

 

Absolutely 

[Quintus]

Took Mrs Quintus to the matinee this afternoon, with Fernanda Oliveira and Fernando Bufalá, Ken Surahashi as Hilarion, Lauretta Summerscales as Myrtha, Bella Brouwers as Bathilde.  Simply outstanding, and everyone I could see from the stalls was on their feet at the end.  This really was a hugely immersive and emotionally draining performance that actually left my wife in tears at the end of each act. I may have blinked once or twice in a manly way myself too, but I'll put that down to the stage smoke.  Maybe it was seeing it for the second time, but whereas when I watched the rehearsal earlier in the week I was keenly interested and observing, this time I was really lost in it. I've never seen Fernanda before and was very impressed. Ken was also a revelation, and Bella was icily imperious and disdainful. I'd say Stina earlier in the week was a still more chilling Myrtha than Lauretta, but that's not to denigrate the latter, who was very good - simply that Stina had been outstanding.  We were both blown away by this performance, and said that though we'd love to see it again, we'd need some recovery time first!

[Sunrise]

I was blown away, I loved it! It was emotive, powerful, familiar and refreshing all at once. I agree that the relationship between Giselle and Albrecht didn't come across as strongly and it took me a while to separate Albrecht from Hilarion. I also felt the 2nd half of act 1 was a little weak. The costumes were gorgeous, especially the flow of the dresses of the outcasts. The costumes of the landlords seemed inspired by The Hunger Games - I liked the absurdity of it! My other half, who has grudgeningly attended with me performances and cinema screenings of Swan Lake, Fille, The Dream, Nutcracker and the traditional Giselle, said that the emotional pull he felt at today's matinee was something he'd never felt in a ballet performance until now...he even suggested going to see the Skeaping version next year! More please Tamara! I think Akram Khan's emotive style may be able to reach a section of the audience like my hubby who can't really connect with traditional ballet. I would love to see Khan choreograph more narrative work. I can't wait for the mixed bill in Spring!

Edited November 19, 2016 by Sunrise

[alison]

Went to my second viewing of Akram Khan's Giselle last night.  Unlike FLOSS I did find the opening performance 'compelling' ... but I confess at somewhat of a remove.  

 

Last night - mesmerised by the catalytic performance of Alina Cojocaru in the title role - I felt no such restraint; I was entirely enthralled.  

 

I had come round.  

 

On my way back home I pondered why this might be.  Just what was the difference that had so marked my response?

 

Maybe it's "second-viewing syndrome"?    In the same way my above reaction to Tuesday's performance was a lot stronger that the first time I'd seen it.  Perhaps because, having seen it once before, you've decoded a lot of the important things - realised, for example, which one out of the throng is Albrecht, instead of wondering where he is for quite a bit of the first act - and once that's out of the way you can delve deeper into it?  I mean, on Tuesday night all those niggling quibbles many of us have had with the piece, such as the lack of narrative clarity and so on, just seemed totally irrelevant, and I never thought I'd find myself saying that.

[annamk]

Maybe it's "second-viewing syndrome"?    In the same way my above reaction to Tuesday's performance was a lot stronger that the first time I'd seen it.  Perhaps because, having seen it once before, you've decoded a lot of the important things - realised, for example, which one out of the throng is Albrecht, instead of wondering where he is for quite a bit of the first act - and once that's out of the way you can delve deeper into it?  I mean, on Tuesday night all those niggling quibbles many of us have had with the piece, such as the lack of narrative clarity and so on, just seemed totally irrelevant, and I never thought I'd find myself saying that.

 

 

I absolutely agree with you re second-viewing & narrative clarity. I saw the rehearsal which was terrific, and much better than I'd anticipated on the basis of some of the reviews which I mistakenly assumed were on the generous side. However, after the matinee (Oliveira/Bufala) yesterday I thought it was one of the most powerful new works I've seen for years. The final pdd was emotionally devastating; it's a long time since ballet in London has left me feeling like that. How different from the all the dispiriting and expensive new commissions seen at the RB in the recent years. 

[SPD444]

I made the same comparison, Sim - this magnificent, passionate, fantastically imaginative work of dance/theatre, compared to the sterile, inward-looking, self-conscious tosh at the ROH last week. Not just a difference of style but of substance.

 

Beautifully put Bridiem, sums up my feelings exactly. Stina Quagebeur appeared to be on-point for the entire second act, magnificent. I really like Mr Khan, perhaps he could go and show Mr. McGregor how emotion is displayed in contemporary ballet and does not require dancers legs to be continually spread-eagled.

 

I tried to book tickets for next September but it has disappeared from the ENB web site and, although it is still showing on the SW web site there are no tickets available. Surely it cannot be sold out already.

[capybara]

I tried to book tickets for next September but it has disappeared from the ENB web site and, although it is still showing on the SW web site there are no tickets available. Surely it cannot be sold out already.

 

Tickets are available on the Sadlers Wells website as I write this.

[SPD444]

Only in the Second Circle and I do not want to sit their. All the other areas show only restricted views. Do you think those areas are sold out or just not put out for sale yet.

[John Mallinson]

The back of the First Circle has restricted view of the top of the stage because of the overhang of the Second Circle. Not having seen this production I don't know how much difference that would make. Perhaps someone who has been could advise. You could ring the box office to see if tickets are being held back.

[annamk]

The back of the First Circle has restricted view of the top of the stage because of the overhang of the Second Circle. Not having seen this production I don't know how much difference that would make. Perhaps someone who has been could advise. You could ring the box office to see if tickets are being held back.

 

 

I sat at the back of the First Circle row M on the side and the view was fine although I haven't seen it from elsewhere so I don't know whether it's much better in the Second Circle. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by annamk

[capybara]

The main 'problem' as regards viewing this production is that the machinery for the wall causes the level of the stage to be much higher than normal so people in the front rows of the Stalls cannot see much of the dancers' legs. There are also moments when characters are standing watching from the top of the wall and they might be obscured by the overhang at the back of the First Circle.

[aileen]

I think that this is a stunning ballet. The concept (landlords and dispossessed garment workers), choreography, music, sets, costumes and lighting all work together to form a cohesive whole. I agree that on second and subsequent viewings the story becomes much clearer as you have an idea of what to expect overall and start to notice little details, particularly the repeated references to Albrecht's true identity and the relationship between the 'chief' Landlord and Hilarion and Bathilde respectively. I thought that Friday night's performance was stunning and a considerable step up from the one on Wednesday night with the same cast (Cojacaru/Hernandez/Chacon/Quagebeur). A special mention should be made of Quagebeur who danced in all five evening performances. I thought that she was mesmerising in the role of Myrtha: other-worldly, imperious, suspicious, vengeful and yet with some vestige of compassion in the end. Every movement was perfectly calibrated. The interaction between her and Cojacaru was exceptionally well done and believable. There were many great moments in the ballet but if I had to chose just two they would be the reveal of the Landlords as the wall slowly lifted for the first time and the vision of Giselle and Myrtha umbilically bound together by the bamboo pole slowly gliding away into the darkness, Giselle looking at Albrect to the very last, to that sad, flutey music.

[Bluebird]

Only in the Second Circle and I do not want to sit their. All the other areas show only restricted views. Do you think those areas are sold out or just not put out for sale yet.

 

I checked availability on the day booking opened and, for most performances, they had held back almost all the stalls tickets and also those in the first circle (apart from the two back rows)  Something similar happened when booking opened for Romeo and Juliet at the RFH in August yet they later released some of the rows which had been held back.  Very irritating for those of us who like to book early!

[SPD444]

I checked availability on the day booking opened and, for most performances, they had held back almost all the stalls tickets and also those in the first circle (apart from the two back rows)  Something similar happened when booking opened for Romeo and Juliet at the RFH in August yet they later released some of the rows which had been held back.  Very irritating for those of us who like to book early!

Thanks for that, Bluebird. Could be the various "friends" have not had their go yet.

[Sim]

My favourite view was in the Second Circle, in the centre of row H (I had also sat in the First Circle).  This ballet really needs to be seen from above.  I preferred being in the Second Circle because you can really see the patterns that the dancers make, and that the sticks make in Act 2. especially when they surround Hilarion and Giselle.  You also get a great perspective of the whole set, with nothing being obscured.  

[Beryl H]

I did a posting on Tuesday's performance but I must have clicked the wrong button as it got lost, thinking about it and reading people's comments I agree that on the first showing there is too much to take in, I was underwhelmed especially with the second act on Tuesday, since reading the excellent review on Dancetabs much has been revealed (although not why Giselle has to balance a long stick in her mouth). The only dancer who made it totally worthwhile was Cesar Corrales, he seemed to have the best of the dancing, in fact Hilarion seemed to be the strongest character which did throw it all out of balance.  I enjoyed act 1 much more than act 2, musically too the last act did seem to drag.

[Quintus]

I saw a handful of very young children at the matinee on Saturday - a couple looked maybe only 6 or 7.  What are people's thoughts on the wisdom of this? I'd have thought the overall tone could be quite disturbing for a youngster and the quite graphic choking of Giselle particularly unsuitable.

[aileen]

I think that it would be a pretty frightening ballet for a young child. Apart from Giselle's choking the whole tone of the work is very dark and disturbing. I took my daughter to see the RB's (traditional) Giselle when she was about eight and she was scared and remembered being scared for several years afterwards.

[MAB]

I saw a handful of very young children at the matinee on Saturday - a couple looked maybe only 6 or 7.  What are people's thoughts on the wisdom of this? I'd have thought the overall tone could be quite disturbing for a youngster and the quite graphic choking of Giselle particularly unsuitable.

 

I imagine they've seen far worse on the telly and pre 'watershed' too.

[bridiem]

I imagine they've seen far worse on the telly and pre 'watershed' too.

 

But this is 'real'. (So to speak.) So I think has the power to disturb more.

[alison]

There are also moments when characters are standing watching from the top of the wall and they might be obscured by the overhang at the back of the First Circle.

 

I would have thought this might well have been a problem at Sadler's Wells: it certainly was in the upper reaches of the Bristol Hipppodrome, where the viewing angle is very steep.

 

 I saw a handful of very young children at the matinee on Saturday - a couple looked maybe only 6 or 7.  What are people's thoughts on the wisdom of this? I'd have thought the overall tone could be quite disturbing for a youngster and the quite graphic choking of Giselle particularly unsuitable.

 

That was my worry at the schools' matinee performance in Bristol: there seemed to be a lot of pretty young children in those groups.  But I didn't see them afterwards, so really have no idea of the effect on them, because they were in a different part of the theatre from me.

[Scheherezade]

Another late posting but I was so knocked sideways by this extraordinary work that I just had to add my comments to the general, although not entirely universal, roar of approval.

 

I was about to start by saying that this was the first new work that I had seen in a long time that I immediately wanted to see again then realised that this was not true since the same could be said of the last two new works by ENB. My goodness, what an amazing job Ms Rojo is doing and how wonderfully the company is carrying through her dream. ENB must be one of the most exciting companies in the world at the moment and long may it continue!

 

So back to Giselle and, first up, wasn't it an object lesson in how to use music and silence to illustrate and enhance a mood. And how a minimal set and effective props, costumes and lighting can convey volumes. That revolving wall was an absolute stroke of genius, as were the stabbing poles, the use of the klaxon, the ominous crackling, the shifts from relentless beat to lyricism and the moments of sheer silence. The tension was cranked up from the get-go. It was visceral, menacing, heart-breaking, empowering and effortlessly conveyed a timeless, empirical truth - that love and sincerity will conquer whatever seeks to destroy it.

 

I think that other posters have probably already said this but it needs to be said again. Khan's choreography totally engages all of the senses and, therefore, draws in the audiences unlike McGregor who, it seems, seeks to alienate them. It has none of the gratuitous, self-congratulatory air of a typical McGregor piece. It effortlessly conveys real emotions and because of this it is utterly absorbing.

 

It wasn't perfect - the first act didn't immediately make it clear that Albrecht was an aristo who was slumming it and the initial relationship between Giselle and Albrecht was not entirely clear but these are small quibbles and, at the end of the day, they didn't seem to matter all that much, such was the blazing power of the piece overall.

 

I came away from this Giselle with a similar feeling to the one that I experienced at the Philip Glass Akhnaten a few months ago, that this was a piece that would stay with me for a long time.

[LinMM]

I don't think it's at all suitable for children under ten and agree that seeing things "for real" with live people is far more disturbing than t.v. Etc .....especially for under sevens as younger children cannot always distinguish that something is being 'acted' rather than actually happening and in any case just because some parents allow their kids so much exposure to t.v. and computer game violence etc doesn't mean it's okay just because it's in the theatre.

 

But possibly from year 6 upwards it should be okay I think. This Giselle is definitely more frightening than the original anyway.

 

When I saw it in Southampton there was a lady there who I think had bought quite a few children( possibly from a dance school) and while we were queuing for the loo she said she had suddenly caught on that this wasn't a version of the original Giselle and was a bit worried that it may not be suitable .....though she didn't have any infant school age with her (5-7) I would have liked to have seen what they thought afterwards. Perhaps today's children are thicker skinned than my generation....who mostly didn't have t.v.s till they were 9 or older....

Has anyone else been with an under ten year old ......what did they think of it?

[Sunrise]

There were quite a few children 10 and younger I saw at the matinee last week. Afterwards on the way home we heard a mum and her two under 10 kids jabbering excitedly about the performance - the boy said he liked the Wilis and the sticks best! I imagine kids in that age bracket would have a variety of reactions to the performance.