Scottish Ballet, Coppélia - Autumn 2022

[ChrisG]

I noticed that nobody seemed to have commented on Scottish Ballet’s new production of Coppélia, either in its first run at the Edinburgh Festival or on its subsequent Scottish tour, so I thought I’d better remedy that! I saw two of the last four performances of the run at the wonderful Eden Court Theatre on the banks of the River Ness in Inverness, surely the furthest north full-scale ballet is ever performed in the UK!

 

This new Coppélia, choreographed by the duo of Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple, aka Jess and Morgs, is a completely new take 150 years on from the original ballet, but the spirit of that original lives on not just in the names of the main characters but in the essence of the story. In this version, Coppélia is not an automaton, but piece of artificial intelligence, an avatar if you will, created by the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Dr Coppelius, reminiscent of Elon Musk even down to the model rocket he keeps on his desk. Swanhilda and her fiancé Franz are investigative reporters sent to Coppelius’ ‘NuLife’ company HQ to interview him and to try and uncover the secret of what he is up to. He demonstrates an early version of the Coppélia avatar which ends in an embarrassing malfunction but not before Franz, as in the original, has taken a shine to her. Swanhilda interviews Coppelius and they clash over the ethics of creating artificial life that mimics human behaviour. The couple are invited to spend the night at the facility but Swanilda decides to leave Franz sleeping and goes off to investigate the facility and discovers the room where a number of the avatars are kept. She brings them to life with a remote and marvels at the range and subtlety of their movements. She discovers the interface and finds that she can enter into it and inhabit the Coppélia avatar. Meanwhile, Coppelius, frustrated at the failure of his demonstration, finds Franz wandering the facility in search of Coppélia and offers him a drugged drink, believing, again as in the original, that he can use his life force to make the avatar more lifelike. He hooks up the sleeping Franz to effect the transfer. Within the avatar, Swanilda sees this happening and fools Coppelius into thinking he has been successful in a long duet in which Coppelius is essentially seduced by her. All of the other avatars, dressed identically to Coppélia be they male or female dancers, appear out of the interface and dance with Swanilda/Coppélia. Finally, Coppelius, dazed and confused by what he has seen, is pulled into the interface by Swanilda who shows him she was driving Coppélia all along. She escapes the interface, leaving Coppelius stuck in virtual reality, and is reconciled with Franz for a final, slightly reluctant duet.

 

I thought I’d better give that brief synopsis because it shows that in essence it still is the story of Coppélia that we know and love, and I have to say I really loved the production. Not least of its virtues is its dazzling use of technology, using computer graphics, as well as pre-recorded video and output from a hand-held camera carried round the stage by one of the dancers that is projected onto the screens and the back and sides of the stage. There are minimal props, but from time to time a pod is pushed onto the stage that doubles as Coppelius’ office and Franz and Swanilda’s bedroom. The pod is pushed round and round while the action is taking place within it, which along with the video from the camera gives the audience a fully-immersive 360 degree view of what is going on. The music pays homage to Delibes’ original in much the same way as the score for ENB’s Giselle pays homage to Adam’s score, mixing it with elements of electronic music and full-on dance music. One nice touch was when at one point Coppelius entered the stage engaging in a bout of ‘boxercise’ with the orchestra apparently playing the Act 1 mazurka, only for it to be revealed when he took one of them out that he was listening to a recording through his Airpods!

 

The dancing gave me lots of echoes of other contemporary works I have seen: the scenes of the facility staff working reminded me of NB’s 1984, the two interviews between Swanilda and Coppelius, where the dancers move to the soundtrack of a real interview voiced by actors, is similar to Crystal Pite’s The Statement, and a party that Swanilda and Franz gatecrash is very like Forsyte’s Playlist. Overall the dance style is in the MacGregor ball park, contemporary but with hints of classicism, especially towards the end where Coppélia and the female avatars dance on pointe. 

 

Seeing two performaces I was hoping I would see two casts to contrast and compare, but interestingly, although there are three different casts, all the shows at each venue appear to be being danced by the same cast. Logistically this seems to make sense, as each cast needs to match up with the pre-recorded video that was shot of them, and only having one set of videos to worry about at each venue makes things easier. That meant that at both performances I got to see Jerome Barnes as Franz, Bruno Macchiardi as Coppelus, and artist Anna Williams as Swanilda. Despite a couple of asynchronous interactions with her pre-recorded self, Williams was simply wonderful, channelling her inner Lois Lane as the dogged investigative reporter. Her duet with the marvellous oily Coppelius of Macchiardi was the highlight of the show, though her duets with Barnes’ suitably dopey Franz were touching. The corps, as always with Scottish Ballet, were superb, whether they were playing keen young employees of Coppelius or robotic avatars.

 

Both nights the audience absolutely loved it, with spontaneous standing ovations both times. It’s definitely a production that should make it south of the border, hopefully not just to Sadler’s Wells but also venues further north - I feel sure it would go down a storm at the Lowry! As it is Scotland has had a treat over the last few months. I’m so glad I included Inverness in the itinerary for my autumn mini-break, though there were times on Thursday when I was battling over Rannoch Moor in a biblical rainstorm that I feared I would be washed away. But I made it and I have to say that Inverness is a wonderful city and Eden Court is a lovely theatre worthy of any ballet lover’s attention. Maybe have a nice winter break there to coincide with SB’s Snow Queen in January!

[alison]

Thanks, Chris, for that very detailed report.  It's always good to find out about what's happening outside the Royal Ballet "bubble".  I've been intrigued by this Coppelia, and would probably go and see it if it came south.  BTW, who's the actual choreographer?

[Sabine0308]

Wow, now I'm very intrigued, thanks for the detailed report! 

[ChrisG]

17 hours ago, alison said:

BTW, who's the actual choreographer?

I attended the pre-show talk on Friday where Tamarin Stott talked about the way the work came together. Apparently the choreography is very much collaborative effort between 'Jess' and 'Morgs' even though individually they have very different styles. Tamarin talked about the intense huddles they would have when trying to solve a particularly knotty choreographic problem.

[alison]

Oh, right.  I thought they were active on the video side of things.  Thanks.

[Emeralds]

Thanks for the great review and the synopsis, ChrisG! When the company announced that their version was going to be a different version of the traditional Coppelia, I was a little apprehensive (after viewing the publicity photos) that it would be something awful! This sounds much, much better, and a very interesting taken on modern technology, CGI, etc. I’m curious to see it now (hint to Sadler’s Wells- please don’t make Scottish Ballet travel all the way south and plonk them into the “box office graveyard slot” of early to end of June. Either give them mid July or April to make it worth their while!)

 

Alternatively, if they get a slot at Edinburgh Festival (EIF) to perform this the timing would be even better for me - and for lots of visitors who travel to Edinburgh in August to see the EIF performances! It would be great if it could be presented in other cities around the U.K. too.

[alison]

I thought they'd already presented it at the Edinburgh Festival, this year?

[Jan McNulty]

6 hours ago, alison said:

I thought they'd already presented it at the Edinburgh Festival, this year?

Yes, it premiered at EIF in August.

[Ian Macmillan]

And I think you'll find Links leading up to that Premiere from early July.  I seem to recall a photo of young ladies in green tank tops turning up quite often back then, for example:

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/scotland/article/Scottish-Ballet-Presents-COPPELIA-Next-Month-20220708

 

A salutary reminder that there's life beyond the M25.  

[San Perregrino]

11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Thanks for the great review and the synopsis, ChrisG! When the company announced that their version was going to be a different version of the traditional Coppelia, I was a little apprehensive (after viewing the publicity photos) that it would be something awful! This sounds much, much better, and a very interesting taken on modern technology, CGI, etc. I’m curious to see it now (hint to Sadler’s Wells- please don’t make Scottish Ballet travel all the way south and plonk them into the “box office graveyard slot” of early to end of June. Either give them mid July or April to make it worth their while!)

 

Alternatively, if they get a slot at Edinburgh Festival (EIF) to perform this the timing would be even better for me - and for lots of visitors who travel to Edinburgh in August to see the EIF performances! It would be great if it could be presented in other cities around the U.K. too.

 

 

i;ve just picked this up from another thread

 

Sadlers Wells:

Coppélia by the Scottish Ballet 
March 2, 2023 to March 5, with press night on March 2

[zxDaveM]

12 minutes ago, PeterS said:

 

 

i;ve just picked this up from another thread

 

Sadlers Wells:

Coppélia by the Scottish Ballet 
March 2, 2023 to March 5, with press night on March 2

 

Have to try and catch that - when it doesn't clash with Woolf Works...

[Emeralds]

20 hours ago, alison said:

I thought they'd already presented it at the Edinburgh Festival, this year?

Oh no! We missed it. Oh - I know why. We couldn’t make it that particular week anyway. 

 

8 hours ago, PeterS said:

 

 

i;ve just picked this up from another thread

 

Sadlers Wells:

Coppélia by the Scottish Ballet 
March 2, 2023 to March 5, with press night on March 2

But yay- could probably do 5 March. Much nearer than Edinburgh! 

[San Perregrino]

I saw a video (digital ?) advert of this production on a platform at Knightsbridge tube station yesterday. It was labelled as ‘Sold Out’. A quick look at Sadlers Wells website confirms this. Returns only. I’m looking forward to seeing why this has captured the popular imagination. 
 

 

[alison]

Yes, it's returns only.  And I managed to double-book myself for it   

[alison]

The ballet's creators, Jess and Morgs, will be being interviewed on Radio 3's In Tune programme later on this afternoon (5-7 pm).

[Emeralds]

Congratulations and well done to Scottish Ballet for the completely sold out run (even in the restricted view seats) - all 3 evenings and both weekend matinees! Must be a great consolation after the difficulty with sales last June (mid June is a tough sell for theatres) for The Crucible. Timing often plays such an important part.  Wishing the company toi toi toi and all the best for opening night on 2 March, in just a little over two weeks’ time.

 

Although I don’t know what Leo Delibes will think of a reboot to his score for Coppelia, I expect he will be pleased his music is still being performed more than 150 years after he wrote it, eg at BRB’s performances of (the traditional) Coppelia last autumn. Today happens to be Leo Delibes’ birthday (1836) ...happy birthday anniversary to Maestro Delibes! Radio 3 have played excerpts of his Coppelia today to celebrate (funnily enough, I didn’t hear the Flower Duet from Lakmé or anything from Sylvia, but there’s still several hours to go). 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Emeralds

[alison]

This opens tonight at Sadler's Wells, and is returns only.  If anyone is going in the next couple of days, I'd appreciate finding out whether they have ice creams on sale before the performance, as there's no interval to buy one in.  Thanks!

 

Oh, and of course feedback on the actual performance would of course also be very welcome

[Emeralds]

A few £75 returns have surfaced for tonight but looks like one would have to phone the box office to purchase, as the website isn’t doing it. All other performances still shown as sold out, but that could change. Look forward to reading reviews from anyone going today or tomorrow! 

[LACAD]

Just back from tonight’s performance, and what a wild ride it was! 
 

It’s so refreshing getting to see a ballet that as Ninette De Valois would say ‘heralds the future, and concentrates on the present’. AI can be a heavy topic but the audience never feels hammered with it. What shines though is not the technology of the ballet’s topic but rather the technology utilised in the work. Brilliant live-feed and prerecorded film projections bring a wonderful layer of intimacy to the ballet. Particularly highlighting the acting strengths of the principal cast.

 

The choreography and storytelling is equally strong. There’s a deft use of a vert physical and sometimes even comedic style of movement, especially when performed by newly minted principal, the supine Bruno Micchiardi. The modern spin on the storyline should be clear to classical fans and newcomers alike. 

And as for Constance Devarnay-Laurence, well, what is there to say other than superlatives. Brilliantly nuanced in her acting skills on camera, a dynamic mover who takes risks in her stride. After seeing her as Abigail in The Crucible, I’m ever more convinced she is one of the finest principal ballerinas among Britain’s ballet companies.

 

Scottish ballet have really won me over with this, and I can’t wait to see them again!

 

[postie]

On 08/10/2022 at 22:51, ChrisG said:

I noticed that nobody seemed to have commented on Scottish Ballet’s new production of Coppélia, either in its first run at the Edinburgh Festival or on its subsequent Scottish tour, so I thought I’d better remedy that! I saw two of the last four performances of the run at the wonderful Eden Court Theatre on the banks of the River Ness in Inverness, surely the furthest north full-scale ballet is ever performed in the UK!

 

Thank you for this - I'll be in Inverness on Sunday 30th April when I didn't expect much to be on. Now I learn the Eden Court cinema will be showing The Marriage of Figaro at 2pm, filmed at the Royal Opera House Should make a pleasant contrast to the vagaries of bikepacking around the Highlands in Spring ..

 

Looking forward to Coppelia very much tomorrow afternoon - given Woolf Works, it could become quite the week.

Edited March 3, 2023 by postie
Coppelia ref

[Peanut68]

Just a thought…. Do Scottish Ballet ever get filmed gif cinema screening release? I think this would help take this production to a wider audience who’d love to see it!

[LACAD]

No cinema releases as far as I know but their Snow Queen was broadcasted on the BBC and then later became available to stream on Marquee.

[art_enthusiast]

Two quick questions - a) does Sadler's Wells have a cloakroom and b), is Angel tube station currently open?

[zxDaveM]

a) yes, in the basement

b) yes

 

 

[art_enthusiast]

4 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

a) yes, in the basement

b) yes

 

 

 

Thanks!

[art_enthusiast]

19 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

a) yes, in the basement

b) yes

 

 

Just wondering, what time do they open seating areas before the performance starts?

I’m heading to the 7.30 performance this evening 

Edited March 4, 2023 by art_enthusiast

[Jan McNulty]

24 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

Just wondering, what time do they open seating areas before the performance starts?

I’m heading to the 7.30 performance this evening 

 

It's usually half an hour before the start so should be 7pm.

[art_enthusiast]

Thanks, it was an amazing performance yesterday. I really loved it, so innovative, the staging was brilliant.

[Emeralds]

On 03/03/2023 at 17:26, Peanut68 said:

Just a thought…. Do Scottish Ballet ever get filmed gif cinema screening release? I think this would help take this production to a wider audience who’d love to see it!

I’d like to see this on a cinema screening or DVD too. I’d also buy a DVD of The Crucible as the timing of their Sadler’s Wells visit meant it was impossible for me to attend last year. 

[San Perregrino]

I might be in the minority but, having sat through it twice, I can confidently say that, despite the talent and commitment of everyone onstage and off, I didn’t enjoy this production.

[lollylamb1]

Got a last minute ticket and was expecting to be blown away, but wasn’t. Not sure the audience were either, as the applause was full, but not hysterical.

 

Yes, the live stream was innovative, especially when the dancers went into the wings etc, but after a while this got repetitive. For anyone who watches a lot of dance online (especially on social media), all that zooming in/close ups aren’t much of a novelty! 
 

Really enjoyed the upbeat group numbers, but wished there were more of them, as some of the solos and duets were pretty repetitive, both musically and choreographically.

 

Loved the scene with the extra long doll arms, I thought this was the best part and didn’t use any technology at all!

[postie]

I held back from commenting because, coming three days after the Woolf Works rehearsal, almost anything can suffer in comparison.

 

It seemed to be trying very hard and occasionally got close to gimmicky with the mixed media stuff - David Blaine meets an evil Elon Musk, or something.

 

tbh, I feared for things when the table climbing began so early. Strong company of performers. London is a tough market.

 

 

[maryrosesatonapin]

Contrary to some other forumites, I loved this performance!  Not as much as ‘The Crucible’ (which had inexplicably empty seats at Sadler’s Wells last year) but Scottish Ballet continue to be innovative and entertaining. This was a fusion of dance, original music (with playful references to the classical score) and film on the huge backdrop of the Sadler’s Wells stage.  The small orchestra was superb, playing rich and strong; the music was full of variety but always delightful (the opposite of the accompaniment to that other modern version of an old ballet, Akram Khan’s Giselle). Really thought-provoking, often humorous, always visually stunning. My only disappointment was the dearth of actual ballet and the lack of a cast list.  The whole company performed with vibrant commitment.

Footnote: no unpleasant audience behaviour/eating/drinking was a bonus.