English National Ballet: Akram Khan’s Creature

[LinMM]

I very much liked your post fromthebalcony 

and really very much hope you do enjoy Creature when you go to see it especially as you have already put so much energy into researching aspects of it first. 
A couple of things. 
Just because you may not like a work does not mean you don’t think it has meaning! 
Creature is a very meaningful work. 
Im sure the dancers got a huge amount out of dancing in this but that doesn’t always follow that the audience will also get a lot out of it. I’ve often seen Pieces where the dancers are giving their all but the choreography leaves one cold so from an audience perspective can be rather unsatisfying. 
If a piece does fail to communicate it’s not usually the fault of the dancers though very occasionally it can be. 
 

If anybody here who went on the first night goes again and says the music is now less all dominating then I might even give the second Act a go!! But this could be one of those pieces you only want/need to see about every three or four years or so. 

 

 

[alison]

11 hours ago, LinMM said:

If anybody here who went on the first night goes again and says the music is now less all dominating then I might even give the second Act a go!!

 

Well, since my reaction from Saturday was along the lines of "I can't see why this was such a problem", I guess it probably has been reduced quite significantly - although obviously I wasn't there on the first night anyway.

[Scheherezade]

Despite the rape and murder in act 2, it was paradoxically less harrowing than act 1. 

[LinMM]

I rather like Anna Selby’s review in the Arbuturian from today’s links. 
Ive never heard of the Arbuturian before. 

[capybara]

On 27/09/2021 at 21:22, maryrosesatonapin said:

A question re Cirio though - does he have a minority status? Is that how he sees himself?  Just curious.  I bet his performance was stunning! 

 

Jeffrey was interviewed recently for The London Ballet Circle and referred to his Filipino/American background then: https://www.tlbc.org.uk/resources/142-jeffrey-cirio-in-conversation

 

 

[alison]

BTW, are there any reports on the Arrieta cast?

[capybara]

1 hour ago, alison said:

BTW, are there any reports on the Arrieta cast?

 

I liked that cast very much: Arietta; Suzuki; Dowden; Kundi; Streeter - especially Suzuki who was, once again, amazing.

She is so talented - a stand out in a classical corps (wonderful epaulement) and a riveting dramatic dance/actress as well.

[SheilaC]

On 29/09/2021 at 17:55, alison said:

BTW, are there any reports on the Arrieta cast?

Overall I thought it was the best of the 3 casts I saw. I agree very much with capybara about Suzuki, such a moving performer. I thought Sara Kundi was good as the doctor but equally so were the other two doctors. Henry Dowden surprisingly made more impact (at least on me) as the Captain than Saruhashi or Frola (although I couldn't understand why Frola wasn't the Creature!) and James Streeter was as good as Reimair as the Major but in a slightly different characterisation of that role. He made me think of the men in that equally dystopian drama, The Handmaid's tale. As for Andres, a character one often didn't notice, Rentaro Nakaaki made much more impact than the other two.

But of course where the Creature is concerned Arrieta and Hernandez, good though they were, could not compete with the absolutely astounding performance by Cirio, the performance of a lifetime.

[KyleCheng]

I feel greatly empathised by many comments above, includes ones about the confusing plot, lack of dancing sequences that develop relationships, synthesiser-based music with very little melody that can be too loud for too long (I don't mind climaxes but surely they shouldn't last 10-min? (pun unintended)), and an absence of escapism.

 

I would also like to echo the praise for Suzuki. After two hours of difficult-to-follow plot I was surprised to find myself rather upset and even a bit enraged by the ending she received (not to spoil anyone), which I'd say attest to her dramatic prowess.

 

To me this final scene (including the creature's final solo) and the pdd between Marie and the captain, were the two highlights of the whole piece. Both of them, I should point out, are deep into the second act; and for that I am glad I stayed to the end. Incidentally, on leaving I overheard a fellow theatre goer speaking with a staff member, both of whom seemed to agree that they liked the second act more than the first.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by KyleCheng

[annamk]

I couldn't see this 2 star review from Gerald Dowler in the links - apologies if I missed it.  

 

https://www.classicalsource.com/concert/english-national-ballet-akram-khans-creature/ 

[alison]

By the way, has anyone worked out the point of the necklace, or whatever it is, yet?  It seems to have some sort of religious symbolism which I can't place.

[zxDaveM]

34 minutes ago, alison said:

By the way, has anyone worked out the point of the necklace, or whatever it is, yet?  It seems to have some sort of religious symbolism which I can't place.

 

I thought it was something a value, being passed around instead of cash. Which may, of course, be utterly wrong! 🙂

[FionaM]

Interview with Jeffrey Cirio by Sarah Crompton 

 

today

Edited October 1, 2021 by FionaE
Correcting auto correct

[theorist]

I went to "Creature" yesterday. Both in the foyer beforehand and in the auditorium only about 10% of the audience wore masks. This was despite an email sent out the previous day saying that "we strongly recommend and encourage" mask wearing. I mention this because some others on this forum have expressed concern about returning to theatres and I wouldn't want such people to feel reassured by reading the stated policy of the theatre, as it doesn't match the reality. If you don't want to sit next to unmasked people, don't go. I was particularly struck by this because I have been in Scotland throughout the summer, where of course mask wearing is still mandatory in shops, theatres, trains, buses, etc. At the last concert I went to there, the ushers requested people to put their masks on if not exempt as they entered the auditorium. The result was 100% compliance. There was no similar request made by ushers at Sadler's Wells. The tannoy announcement when the lights went down did request people to "keep wearing" their masks throughout the performance, but since very few people were wearing them in the first place, the "keep" seemed inappropriate. (It's also the case that the practice at Sadler's Wells of encouraging people to buy drinks at the bar and take them into the auditorium gives anyone who doesn't want to wear a mask a convenient figleaf.)

 

[Lizbie1]

27 minutes ago, theorist said:

I mention this because some others on this forum have expressed concern about returning to theatres and I wouldn't want such people to feel reassured by reading the stated policy of the theatre, as it doesn't match the reality. If you don't want to sit next to unmasked people, don't go.

 

 

I think the last is a really important point -though some theatres in London are taking a stronger line and I think mandating them (certainly compliance at Wyndham's Theatre a few weeks back was very high).

[LACAD]

Just came from the final performance of Creature (my first). I was meant to go last week to see the Hernandez cast but unfortunately I caught covid and had a thankfully asymptomatic albeit very boring isolation. 

 

While I felt the work wasn’t Khan’s strongest, I still enjoyed it and felt emotionally impacted by it. Cirio is of course a brilliant dancer but this performance was just phenomenal. His movements were rich in animalistic and child like qualities, fluid and totally in control.

 

Takahashi was stellar as always, such beautiful port de bras, she could tell a whole story with those arms. Props to the very threatening Reimar and the magnificently articulate Quagebeur (who’s character I found most compelling). The corps were in great form however I felt their scenes - apart from some very impressive and imposing tableaux - were mostly filler and could’ve been reduced in length.

 

Overall I had no issues with the storyline, there were a lot of concepts and layers going on and some could’ve been alluded to rather than mentioned in passing. But I didn’t feel it weighed the piece too much, I treated these as more of the background to the action. I felt at the core of it this was a typical Khan work that brings power play and social ills to the fore. The music wasn’t as interesting as Giselle but I didn’t mind the intensity and malaise it induced.

 

The issues I had were mostly the repetitive nature of it, many many ideas were recycled for the Corps. For a work that had so much voiceover there was very little text used, just repeated lines (though the “because of what you have done” has a stronger meaning by the end of the work). Some scenes definitely overstayed their welcome and seemed to run just for the sake of filling up a full hour.

 

Overall, I did enjoy the work. I don’t mind at all going to the theatre and getting drawn into a dark world. And I feel through editing, revision, and more time for the casts and perhaps new casts to inhabit and strengthen the impact of the roles that this piece will become stronger. But I feel that something is there. It’s sad and grim, and that’s ok. I find it a compelling ballet with some brilliant dramatic performances in it. 

 

I was of course hoping that creature would be a huge critical success considering all the work and time that went to it, as well as the painfully long anticipatory wait. However as others have noted before, this hasn’t deterred audiences from enjoying it and I noticed that Sadler’s was bursting with people on the second circle (the house was sold out tonight), most of whom gave a strong enthusiastic response at the end. And I was among them.

 

 

 

As a wee aside, I was wondering what all the fuss was about the “necklace” that is referred to on the forum as a plot hole in the ballet. Perhaps it’s because I’m Irish, but it seemed obvious to me that it was a rosary or some religious token! Definitely something to display power or status quo (a very Khanian mark). 

 

[alison]

Well, yes, I thought about a rosary too, but couldn't make sense of it in the context, given that there wasn't any relevant religious aspect to the piece.  And anyway, I thought various people "wielded" it at various times, so who was displaying the power?

[LACAD]

27 minutes ago, alison said:

Well, yes, I thought about a rosary too, but couldn't make sense of it in the context, given that there wasn't any relevant religious aspect to the piece.  And anyway, I thought various people "wielded" it at various times, so who was displaying the power?

From my interpretation it seemed that Saruhashi’s character was some sort of moral leader, imposing an ideology that the other characters had to kowtow to. Reimar’s character seems to not take this seriously, something to chuck aside. The creature holds onto it maybe perhaps because it’s a symbol of his hope? Or maybe, if one is more cynical he feels an obligation to protect it as a blind believer. 
 

As for other religious references, there is the Latin choral singing in the end of Act II which felt somewhat religious to me. And with Saruhashi’s character holding what I saw as role of moral leader in his neat black shirt, I couldn’t help but see him as ‘priest-like’. That being said, this is just my take. Maybe labelling the character as “priest” might have been a bit too on the nose for the dramaturg?

 

Alternatively, Khan might have just wanted a bit of bling thrown in.

[FionaM]

I was at both the final performances today.  I deliberately avoided any explanations beforehand, beyond the brief advertising blurb, to see what I would make of it without too many pre-conceptions.  
 

Well, from the increasingly ominous opening music, I was on the edge of my seat.  The physicality of the choreography for the creature himself!  What a great male role Akram had created!  Isaac Hernandez was less animalistic, less weird and less manic than Jeffrey Cirio, but nevertheless compelling and intense but in a different softer way.  I found it easier to empathise with Isaac’s version.  To me, Isaac was a human treated like a creature, whereas Jeffrey was a creature trying to be human.  
 

The Marie role is no less intense.  Both Creature and Marie are on stage for almost the entire two acts.  A feat of stamina in itself.  I loved both Fernanda Oliviera and Erina Takahashi as Marie.   They both pull at the heart strings.  

Stina Quagebeur was excellent and nuanced as the sinister awkward doctor.  It’s clear she’s created that role. Did others notice the sequence of crossed arms movements that she did and the army of medics copied?  It reminded me of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake row of identical nurses.  I shall have to watch that again to cross-check.
 

Joe Caley was a revelation to me as the baddie Major.  Similar role to the gaoler in Manon.  Such a strong presence and command of the stage.  More like this please!

 

Both Ken Surahasi and FG Frola were super in the more sympathetic role of the Captain.  

 

Has anyone mentioned the music references?  I noticed some Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in Act 1 and then got completely distracted at the start of Act 2 by the drum beat of Ravel’s Bolero which developed further with other instruments joining in.  My head was playing Ravel’s actual Bolero in parallel … it was quite surreal.

 

I met Gavin Sutherland inbetween shows and he says he’s not aware that the composer consciously referenced any works, although Gavin said there were other references to music by Enrico Morricone and Rachmaninov.   

At the end I am left to question the state of life and who are the creatures /  humans ?

 

Intense, compelling, thought provoking, dynamite performances, well drilled corps de ballet.  Loved it.  

 

Postscript:

To those critics who say it’s like AK’s Giselle… well you could equally say Ashton’s Fille is like his Two Pigeons . MacMillan’s R&J, Manon and Mayerling are hugely similar in structure, style and dance vocabulary (and the same boring orange/brown costumes at ROH 🙄).  Of course Akram’s vocabulary of steps is similar in his ‘ballets’ for ENB.  But then jêté manège, fouettés, posé turns and arabesques are a feature of both Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker.  We don’t comment on those being the same because of it.   

 

[Scheherezade]

9 hours ago, LACAD said:

Alternatively, Khan might have just wanted a bit of bling thrown in.

I’d say that a bit of bling - or something equally trivial- thrown in was exactly what this production needed. Something contrasting and mood-shifting to provide even a soupçon of relief from the all-encompassing gloom of this harrowing tale. Light and shade. And, in comparison, the cautionary morality tale would have been all the more effective. 

[FionaM]

The necklace has a cross on it … as seen from my seat in row 4 of the Stalls.  So it’s a rosary.  To me it’s a comment on the lip service paid to morals of religion.  

it originates with Marie … I assume because she is the only being with compassion and blemish free morals  

[Jan McNulty]

12 hours ago, FionaE said:

Postscript:

To those critics who say it’s like AK’s Giselle… well you could equally say Ashton’s Fille is like his Two Pigeons . MacMillan’s R&J, Manon and Mayerling are hugely similar in structure, style and dance vocabulary (and the same boring orange/brown costumes at ROH 🙄).  Of course Akram’s vocabulary of steps is similar in his ‘ballets’ for ENB.  But then jêté manège, fouettés, posé turns and arabesques are a feature of both Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker.  We don’t comment on those being the same because of it.   

 

 

Your final comment is spot on Fiona!

[Nogoat]

On 24/09/2021 at 13:32, LinMM said:

 ...Led Zeppelin rocks lol!.....

 

 

Funny you should say that, because at one point during the performance (I think when the 'brigade' first come in and do their repetitive ensemble stuff) the driving, incessant rhythm and slightly discordant strings made me think of Led Zep's Kashmir!

 

The above was probably just my mind trying to make connections (or pick up 'patterns', for those of you who have seen it!), but a more deliberate musical reference (though well-hidden, as I didn't notice it until the second performance I saw) occurred during the scene where the Major orders Creature to be sent out into the freezing exterior as a test of endurance. The slow, simple, almost monotonic music was suddenly very reminiscent of Purcell's 'Cold Genius' aria from King Arthur. So I listened to the Purcell before going to the next performance, and confirmed (at least to my satisfaction) that the link was there. Very, very clever!

 

In fact, over the course of four performances I have become convinced that Creature is a very accomplished, complex and ultimately important work.

 

[Sim]

Great to have you back, Nogoat!  

[LinMM]

Well if I do see it again at some point  ( and probably will just in case I was having a weirdly over sensitive evening) perhaps if somebody gave me a whole list of musical connections to find in it there’s a chance it might take my mind off any over loudness!! 

[Nogoat]

Apart from the musical connections mentioned in earlier posts, there were a few other fairly tenuous examples picked up (or maybe imagined!) by my partner and me.
 
In Act 1, a brief section of the music for the 'celebration' organised by the Major reminded my partner of the Hunting Party music in Mayerling; this may not have been deliberate on the part of Lamanga, though it was both a 'party' and the Major was already embarking on his appallingly predatory, 'hunting' behaviour (behaviour that would ultimately lead to an innocent death).

 

Amidst all the gloom, the Act 1 interlude where Creature flirts with Marie was accompanied by music I thought was very much in the minimalist style of Philip Glass (though it was not clear what feeling that was supposed to evoke in the listener, apart from the thought 'this could go on a bit...' - which it did!).

 

Also, there were bits after the first section of Act 1 and, especially, towards the end of Act 2 which reminded me of Vangelis' soundtrack to Blade Runner; for me, this helped magnify the feeling of dystopia from the small, sparse stage of Sadlers Wells up to the global scale depicted in that evocative movie. I think it was the use of those long, drawn-out, almost plaintive wails that seemed to sit above the music and which added to its impact. 

And it did have an impact on me. In two of the four performances my nose started running (not ideal in a mask!) and my eyes welled up at the end. The first time was the Arietta/Suzuki pairing, and was mainly down to the Suzuki's wonderful portrayal of the tragic Marie - I really felt for her! The second time was with Cirio/Takahashi, but this time it was Cirio's Creature that broadcast the clear, intense emotions from the stage that so resonated in my nasal cavities.

 

I have absolutely no problem with deliberate, overt use of existing music/styles (eg Bolero in Act 2 of Creature) or even with covert use, deliberate or otherwise, to help with the communication of the story from the stage to the audience, and to elicit the desired feelings and emotions in said audience.

 

Indeed, if 'stealing' is good enough for Stravinsky ( https://youtu.be/CYObl3e8nwE?t=290 ) why not Lamagna? Or others?

 

To develop this further, the attached MP3 file is an example of a style that many would associate with a particular composer/ballet...

 

So, here's a little quiz for the weekend; which ballet would you say the sample is from, and who is the composer?

 

There is a musical connection in the ballet that I had not realised until recently, and one that I have not seen mentioned elsewhere. And since the connection fits what is being depicted so well, I think it is deliberate.

 

Please feel free to post suggestions, and if no one has found the connection by Sunday evening I will put up links to the source and 'copy' that may surprise you (it certainly surprised me, then made me smile).

 

sample.mp3

[LinMM]

Is it Alice?

Only because of the ticking! I can only think of Cinderella with a clock in or Alice ...I think the white rabbit has a watch? 
It just sounds more Alicey to me. 
Unless of course it’s from some obscure Russian ballet 😛

Edited October 8, 2021 by LinMM

[bangorballetboy]

Another vote for Joby Talbot's Alice

[Nogoat]

4 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Is it Alice? 

 

This is where it gets a bit complicated, and I apologise for any misdirection I may have given...

 

Yes, it's so obviously Alice, even from that tiny sample; and for those of us who know and love Alice (me included), how could it be anything else?

 

But the sample is I uploaded is not from the Alice soundtrack, it's actually from something much older - from last century, in fact. It was 'borrowed' by Talbot for use in Alice, and I think it was borrowed for a particular reason - a musical nod, riddle or joke.

 

So, the more difficult part of the quiz is to identify that source material (without resorting to apps like Shazam, please! 🙂).

 

[LinMM]

Do you mean “much older” in the sense of the 20th or 19th Century? I’m guessing 20th but the word “much” made me think like well over a 100 years ago lol! 

[Nogoat]

10 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Do you mean “much older” in the sense of the 20th or 19th Century? I’m guessing 20th but the word “much” made me think like well over a 100 years ago lol! 

 

No, 'only' about 50 years ago! 🙂

[LinMM]

Well a teeny weeny bit of a clue but nothing coming through the ether just at the moment 🤔 

[LinMM]

Except the clock reference it’s not a track from Pink Floyd is it ...which I’ll remember in a minute ....though am not sure how might be connected to the action on the stage in Alice