The Royal Ballet's The Weathering / Solo Echo / DGV: Danse à grande vitesse: 24 March to 07 April 2022

[Richard LH]

I thought I would  post  a new thread for views on this interesting triple bill, which starts on Thursday. I note that the  "New Kyle Abraham" world premiere now actually has a title!

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

I misread the title Richard and you got my hopes up that the RB had decided to perform David Nixon's wonderful production of Wuthering Heights! 

[Richard LH]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

I misread the title Richard and you got my hopes up that the RB had decided to perform David Nixon's wonderful production of Wuthering Heights! 

Jan you have now sent me off on a tangent wondering who at the RB should play Cathy, Heathcliff, Nelly Dean etc...!😄

[zxDaveM]

I literally just looked on the ROH website to see if they had yet named 'the new Kyle Abraham'. It has yet to be updated there, so thanks for the heads up. Perhaps someone should give a nudge to the website caretakers...

[San Perregrino]

I asked the question at the recent Insight and we were told then that it was to be called The Weathering. Kyle A didn’t say what led him to this title other then he’d checked with Google that it wasn’t already used in a conflicting way and, had run it past Kevin O’H, for his feedback.

The insight is up on YouTube (without the Q&A) and well worth watching for both Osipova solos and duet work with Liam Boswell & Josh Junker.

[zxDaveM]

The Weathering, eh. Wonder if they are dragging out those wind machines Arthur Pita used in a piece a few years back...

[Mary]

Oh dear yes- was that called The Wind or am I being imaginative? Poor dancers staggering about in front of a giant fan...oh dear.

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

Jan you have now sent me off on a tangent wondering who at the RB should play Cathy, Heathcliff, Nelly Dean etc...!😄

 

I think (bearing in mind I'm not a regular at RB) I would go for Natalia Osipova as Cathy (for her wildness), Cesar Corrales as Heathcliff (darkly brooding), Anna Rose O'Sullivan as Isabella and William Bracewell as Edgar.

[Ian Macmillan]

Whatever the case elsewhere, the ROH is certainly using "The Weathering" title on Twitter now.  And I'm sure I saw it announced by someone yesterday.

[alison]

Is anyone else getting an error message when they try to get onto the booking page for the bill?  I have, since last week  

[capybara]

3 minutes ago, alison said:

Is anyone else getting an error message when they try to get onto the booking page for the bill?  I have, since last week  

Yes, but on my laptop, the Error Message relates to cookies not being operational.

[alison]

Oh.  I'm getting the standard 500 error.

[MJW]

I see there's camera filming on 24th March and 1st April - does that mean they plan to stream this in the future do you think?

 

Still plenty of seats available - I'm booked for Saturday 2nd.

 

 

[LinMM]

When I was booking on my phone for this last week I kept getting the 500 error message. If I turned my phone off for a couple of mins and then went back into the website it was okay again. This happened several times as I kept looking at the view from seat map then I’d go back to the website and get the error message again  …turn off phone …then back in again. I think this went on three or four times before finally booked it!! 

[bridiem]

19 minutes ago, LinMM said:

When I was booking on my phone for this last week I kept getting the 500 error message. If I turned my phone off for a couple of mins and then went back into the website it was okay again. This happened several times as I kept looking at the view from seat map then I’d go back to the website and get the error message again  …turn off phone …then back in again. I think this went on three or four times before finally booked it!! 

 

No wonder there are still plenty of seats available!! 😄

[Emeralds]

The website has been calling it New Kyle Abraham for so long that I got a big  confused when they said The Weathering....I thought I’d got the wrong theatre! 

5 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I think (bearing in mind I'm not a regular at RB) I would go for Natalia Osipova as Cathy (for her wildness), Cesar Corrales as Heathcliff (darkly brooding), Anna Rose O'Sullivan as Isabella and William Bracewell as Edgar.

Not sure why, but your casting has made me think the subject would make a great new Cathy Marston ballet for the Royal Ballet!  

[Jan McNulty]

17 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

 

Not sure why, but your casting has made me think the subject would make a great new Cathy Marston ballet for the Royal Ballet!  

 

No need - there is already a fantastic ballet by David Nixon!

[Mary]

5 hours ago, alison said:

Is anyone else getting an error message when they try to get onto the booking page for the bill?  I have, since last week  

I get this '500' message whenever I try to book anything. I don't let it put me off but possibly others would and who could blame them. It is very annoying.

 

Sorry to see that the new triple bill has not sold all that well so far - it could perhaps have done with a bit more and a bit better in the way of advertising  - and, more fundamentally, with some more appealing costumes/music. One work only having a title 3 days before perhaps didn't help either.  I don't know. It strikes me as a bit on the drab side  ( and Osipova/ Corrales as Cathy and Heathcliff would be an infinitely more exciting prospect.)

 

[Ian Macmillan]

Just to say - that Cathy Marston created a Wuthering Heights (Sturmhöhe) for her small Bern company and brought it to the Linbury in 2009:

 

http://www.cathymarston.com/wutheringheights.html

 

Jenny Tattersall beat Osipova to it.

 

  

[alison]

58 minutes ago, Mary said:

I get this '500' message whenever I try to book anything. I don't let it put me off but possibly others would and who could blame them. It is very annoying.

 

But how do you get past it?!  I refresh and refresh, but all that comes up for that page is the blasted 500 error.  I was looking because I fear I'm going to have to dump my ticket for the first night, and needed to replace it.

 

58 minutes ago, Mary said:

Sorry to see that the new triple bill has not sold all that well so far - it could perhaps have done with a bit more and a bit better in the way of advertising 

 

Something that could have been said of quite a few ROH productions this year, even unexpected ones ...  I wonder if they've been targeting some more niche locations this time, because I haven't seen a thing about it.

[Mary]

I don't get past the error message-I have to go out and come in again...eventually it works.

[Richard LH]

For DGV, the first night cast (and for 28/03  and 01/04) is now showing on the ROH website  as Storm-Jensen Ball Takada Bracewell Nunez Hirano Magri Sissens,  rather than the earlier listing of Heap Ball Takada Hay Nunez Hirano Magri Sissens.

[Mary]

Glad Matthew Ball's knee is better. 

[bridiem]

The ROH has just tweeted a clip of Osipova rehearsing The Weathering. Do we therefore assume that she is still performing in it on Thursday?

[Emeralds]

14 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

Just to say - that Cathy Marston created a Wuthering Heights (Sturmhöhe) for her small Bern company and brought it to the Linbury in 2009:

 

http://www.cathymarston.com/wutheringheights.html

 

Jenny Tattersall beat Osipova to it.

 

  

I thought I did remember Cathy Marston tackling WH at some point! 

 

16 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

No need - there is already a fantastic ballet by David Nixon!

I hope I can catch that when it’s next being performed. I do remember him doing it but I wasn’t free to attend. 

[Emeralds]

14 hours ago, Mary said:

I get this '500' message whenever I try to book anything. I don't let it put me off but possibly others would and who could blame them. It is very annoying.

 

Sorry to see that the new triple bill has not sold all that well so far - it could perhaps have done with a bit more and a bit better in the way of advertising  - and, more fundamentally, with some more appealing costumes/music. One work only having a title 3 days before perhaps didn't help either.  I don't know. It strikes me as a bit on the drab side  ( and Osipova/ Corrales as Cathy and Heathcliff would be an infinitely more exciting prospect.)

 

I must admit I am hesitating as I don’t really like the combination offered- it feels like it might be a bit drab/overly serious/somber ... hard to explain, but it feels like the three works wouldn’t  gel for me (maybe they will for others). I also remember DGV and Solo Echo both having quite dark lighting, which is a problem for us visually. I would have booked several tickets immediately if it was Weathering/The Statement/DGV,  Scenes de ballet/Weathering/DGV, or Weathering/Solo Echo/A Month in the Country.

 

I think many people are also hesitating not knowing how the new ballet will turn out, especially if they also didn’t see Solo Echo last time. This is why I’ve  always felt that for new works, combining them with an established one act Ashton or MacMillan ballet is better, or offer more than one combination of the triple bill, something that New York City Ballet has always done but which the Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre are always resistant against. It’s just my personal experience of the pieces- others may feel differently! Conversely, I have found that English National Ballet’s recent triple bills are fine and have plenty of contrast, without any need for an  Ashton/MacMillan ballet to balance them.

 

 

[zxDaveM]

3 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

I must admit I am hesitating as I don’t really like the combination offered- it feels like it might be a bit drab/overly serious/somber ... hard to explain, but it feels like the three works wouldn’t  gel for me (maybe they will for others). I also remember DGV and Solo Echo both having quite dark lighting, which is a problem for us visually. I would have booked several tickets immediately if it was Weathering/The Statement/DGV,  Scenes de ballet/Weathering/DGV, or Weathering/Solo Echo/A Month in the Country.

 

I think many people are also hesitating not knowing how the new ballet will turn out, especially if they also didn’t see Solo Echo last time. This is why I’ve  always felt that for new works, combining them with an established one act Ashton or MacMillan ballet is better, or offer more than one combination of the triple bill, something that New York City Ballet has always done but which the Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre are always resistant against. It’s just my personal experience of the pieces- others may feel differently! Conversely, I have found that English National Ballet’s recent triple bills are fine and have plenty of contrast, without any need for an  Ashton/MacMillan ballet to balance them.

 

 

 

I wouldn't have said DGV 'sombre' - but agree the lighting a bit dark in places. Always worth seeing though, in my book

You may be right about people hesitating about booking for the 'New Kyle Abraham' (as it still says on the website) - as so little been said about it. Many of us stalwarts only heard about the actual name this week, but still know little about it. Perhaps later performance booking will pick up if the response on opening night is positive

The second triple bill being all Ashton, so for me, works because of that. So I am happy it's that way

[Beryl H]

I prefer variation in triple bills rather than similar works, in this case, dark and modern, although GDV does have great music to finish. 

There was an article in The Times that I thought had been mentioned but perhaps not, Kyle Abraham is interested in using pointe shoes at times, also Natalia Osispova and Joseph Sissens were going to dance in the new ballet!

[MadeleineR]

Per her IG Osipova has Covid, and says she'll miss the premiere on Thursday

[JNC]

57 minutes ago, MaddieRose said:

Per her IG Osipova has Covid, and says she'll miss the premiere on Thursday

Disappointing news but unavoidable of course - any idea who may replace her? 

[Lizbie1]

Selfishly, I'd rather have triple bills be all classic/"heritage" or all modern rather than a mixture as it saves me having to make the trek up to London so much because I'm not generally interested in new work until it's been given the thumbs up by people I trust. (I am going to this week's though - attempting once more to love Wheeldon!)

[Emeralds]

3 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

I wouldn't have said DGV 'sombre' - but agree the lighting a bit dark in places. Always worth seeing though, in my book

You may be right about people hesitating about booking for the 'New Kyle Abraham' (as it still says on the website) - as so little been said about it. Many of us stalwarts only heard about the actual name this week, but still know little about it. Perhaps later performance booking will pick up if the response on opening night is positive

The second triple bill being all Ashton, so for me, works because of that. So I am happy it's that way

I like DGV the ballet for the choreography, but find it an energetic ballet with sombre lighting and designs! That’s how it looked at the premiere and it still feels dark many years later.....and Solo Echo is very similar. Something like Scenes de ballet or A Month in the Country, which isn’t lit as though there’s a power shortage, would be a nice contrast.

 

I think I remember Kyle Abraham’s Optional Family: A Divertissement being quite darkly lit too, so one tends to wonder if the next ballet might be similar.

 

 We’ll be hanging on to every review that members who attend the premiere and second performance post, to see if we can work out whether we should go or not! Likewise the press reviews, bearing in mind the preferences or biases some critics are known to have.....

Edited March 22, 2022 by Emeralds

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, MaddieRose said:

Per her IG Osipova has Covid, and says she'll miss the premiere on Thursday

 

Must be so frustrating for her - missing both Swan Lake and this première.