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Press Release: Northern Ballet - The queen of all ballets: Cleopatra is back


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The queen of all ballets: Cleopatra is back
 
Northern Ballet brings the remarkable story of one of the world’s best-known icons, Cleopatra, back to the stage at Leeds Grand Theatre from Thu 6 – Sat 15 Mar 2014. Cleopatra premiered in Leeds in February 2011 and toured extensively throughout the UK. Seen by more than 54,000 people and generating more than £1 million at the box office, Cleopatra returns in 2014 for a limited period only.
 
Cleopatra is choreographed by Artistic Director David Nixon OBE to a score, played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia, by celebrated Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, best known across the world for Les Misérables and Miss Saigon amongst many others. This stunning ballet charts Cleopatra’s sensational rise to power, her scandalous romances with the most powerful men in history, and her eventual downfall.
 
Claude-Michel Schönberg says: “From the moment David Nixon suggested the ballet of Cleopatra, it took me five years to find an elusive spark of inspiration. I had to understand how sensuous the way of life was in Egypt, the opposite to the culture of Rome. I realised that the chaos of being in love with such a woman as Cleopatra put the Roman Emperor and his Empire in danger. That’s what the score is trying to reflect without falling into clichés associated with that era. The relationship between Rome and Egypt is another aspect of the Yin and the Yang: the perfect incompatibility responsible for the drama of destinies.”
 
An enduring icon of the ancient world and the ultimate modern woman, Cleopatra’s legend has captivated generations. A universal style and beauty icon, Cleopatra is still inspiring artists, designers and stylists today. Although not widely known as a ballet, Cleopatra gained mass popular appeal through the 1963 Hollywood film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
 
David Nixon explains: “I have been fascinated by the story of Cleopatra for a long time. I think it’s the name, it’s just so iconic. It has echoed through the centuries, and it has echoed more and more; it doesn’t lose its resonance. Two-thousand years later she is as popular as she ever was, in fact more so. I think the legend and the mystery of the woman grows rather than lessens. There is little factual information about her yet she managed to hold in her grasp two of the most powerful men in history. She was in some ways beautiful and unbelievably sensual for the almost barbaric Romans but she was also a woman, mother and above all a queen.
 
David Nixon brought together a group of established Northern Ballet collaborators to work with him on Cleopatra including: Patricia Doyle (Co-director), Christopher Giles (Co-designer) and Tim Mitchell (Lighting Designer).  Northern Ballet introduced projection to create scenic backdrops with designs by Nina Dunn.

The return of Cleopatra is a chance for audiences to once again be captivated by this unmissable retelling of a remarkable woman’s story.
 
For further information on Northern Ballet’s upcoming tour 2014 visit northernballet.com.
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-ENDS-
 

Notes for Editors
 

  1. Northern Ballet

Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s five large ballet companies. Based in Leeds it performs throughout the UK as well as overseas. Northern Ballet’s productions mix classical dance and theatre, embracing popular culture and taking inspiration from literature, opera, or giving a unique interpretation of popular classical ballets.
 
Northern Ballet is the busiest touring ballet company in the UK and is typically on the road for around 24 weeks of the year. The Company of 40 dancers tours a combination of new works and established repertoire to cities throughout the UK and is the only large scale ballet company to do so.
 
The creation of Cleopatra was supported by The Emerald Foundation.
Cleopatra has a guidance age of 12 years and over.
 
 
www.northernballet.com
 

  1. Cleopatra Production credits

Music Claude-Michel Schönberg
Choreography David Nixon OBE
Scenario Claude-Michel Schönberg, David Nixon and Patricia Doyle
Orchestrations John Longstaff and Claude-Michel Schönberg
Played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia
Music Director John Pryce-Jones
Design David Nixon and Christopher Giles
Lighting Design Tim Mitchell
Projection Design Nina Dunn
 

  1. Tour Listings
Leeds Grand Theatre 

Thu 6 – Sat 15 March 2014
Box Office: 0844 848 2700
leedsgrandtheatre.com

 
Sheffield, Lyceum Theatre

Tue 25 – Sat 29 March 2014
Box Office: 0114 249 6000
sheffieldtheatres.com

 
 

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Northern Ballet has released some interviews:

 

 

Becoming Cleopatra – An Interview with Martha Leebolt

 

How do you prepare yourself to play one of history’s most iconic women?

I read a lot of books, watched the Hollywood movie and saw all the TV series about her that I could find. I took in anything and everything because even the smallest detail strengthens a character and makes it more realistic.

 

Were you worried at all about how you would portray her?

Of course! Playing such an iconic woman who was so vicious and willing to do anything to come to power was very daunting but sometimes it’s fun and interesting to portray someone so different from yourself. She’s such a powerful and strong woman, who wouldn’t want to play her?

 

Did the character come to you right away or did it develop as the ballet was created?

Building the character of Cleopatra was definitely a work in progress. To replicate someone of such strength must be portrayed naturally, not imitated. I had to let her take over in a way.  Also the music by Claude-Michel Schönberg not only defines the story but also creates the atmosphere and evolves the character. The score is a joy to dance to.

 

You first performed Cleopatra in 2011. Does it feel different to be dancing Cleopatra for a second time?

Cleopatra was the first piece that was ever created on me and it is a dancer’s dream to be choreographed on so naturally I was very nervous but equally excited. The first time I was so focused and the experience was all brand new to me. This time it will probably be a little easier going back to it as I still remember the steps and feeling of the piece. The hard thing will be constantly comparing it to the last time. Besides all of that, I am very excited. Cleopatra is my favourite character to play.

 

What aspects of her character do you try to bring into your dancing?

I want to portray her strength but there’s so much more to her character. She had a son and was also a lover and even though she was vicious and willing to do anything to come to power, she still had a heart and was a normal person wanting love and a happy life.

 

What are you thinking about while you’re dancing?

With Cleopatra I’m really absorbed in the story from beginning to end, especially as this is one of the ballets where you don’t come off stage that often and when you do it’s for a very quick change so you don’t have time to come out of character. I am extremely concentrated and the steps are almost second nature. Of course if I have a wiggle or a slip I need to quickly change my mind set to camouflaging what has gone wrong whilst still keeping in character so the mistake is unnoticed. The ballet starts out with a really intense pas de deux with Wadjet and so there is no way to not already be in the zone because you’re on your own in a white box. There is no way out so you must be in the right mind set or nerves would get the better of you. You have to be somebody else for that moment and be incredibly grounded to be completely still for the opening curtain to rise.

 

What do you find most challenging about portraying her?

It’s a long physically demanding show and also emotionally it’s very draining, especially when she has to kill the love of her life at the end.

 

How do you get into character?

While I’m in my dressing room I tend to be quite quiet and concentrate on thinking about the show while the hair and make-up gets done. The preparation into hair and make-up takes a long time! The eyes are very dark and the hair is quite specific so there’s enough time to sit at the dressing room table, see my reflection in the mirror and know that I’m Cleopatra.

 

How do the hair, make-up and costumes help you to establish Cleopatra’s persona?

The eye make-up is very iconic for Cleopatra and the hair is slicked back into a ponytail, split into six braids and then connected to the nape of the neck. It looks Egyptian while still being practical for dancing. My costumes are beautiful but quite bare. All of the costumes are designed to show off the dancers’ muscles and strength. I feel like they add to the whole idea of this strong and physical world we are trying to create.

 

Which parts of the production do you find most technically difficult?

I would probably say that the sword pas de deux at the end of the ballet is the most challenging. At that point I’m already very tired and the knowledge that I will be on stage until the curtain call is very scary.

 

Some beautiful actresses including Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh and Dame Judi Dench have all portrayed Cleopatra on film or stage. How does it feel to be one of the only dancers to have done so?

Well good when you say it like that, really good! I’ve not thought about it like that before!

 

Who do you think Cleopatra really was? Does she deserve her reputation?

I think she does. Although we don’t know tonnes about her the things we do know must be true or else why would they have been written down? Why would they be the legends that they are?

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Cleopatra – Interview with Artistic Director David Nixon OBE

 

Why did you choose to create a ballet of Cleopatra?

I’ve been interested in that period of history for a long time, especially Cleopatra as even 2,000 years later she’s still as popular and infamous as she ever was and, even today, her legend and mystery continues to grow rather than lessen. When you’re creating a dance you have to find a reason for the story to work as a dance as opposed to any other medium. Cleopatra is about sensuality, relationships, manipulation and political manoeuvring which are all things which dance can portray very well.

 

What was the inspiration behind Cleopatra?

After Claude-Michel Schönberg and I created Wuthering Heights we spoke about possibly working on a production of Cleopatra together as it was also a subject that he’d been interested in. Two weeks later he called me to come and listen to some music that he’d written and he played me this incredible music that was imaginative, sensual and moving and captured the humanity of Cleopatra which is often forgotten. I felt Cleopatra’s emotions and naivety in the music and I knew that I had to be the one to choreograph to this music.

 

Tell us about the setting for Cleopatra?

We didn’t want to do a period piece where everything was authentically portraying 40BC. What we wanted to do was to capture the sense of the time but with the contemporary view that we look at things. It’s about creating an atmosphere in which people can imagine the times but still being relevant to the time.

 

What are the central characters in the ballet apart from Cleopatra?

There are four main male roles in this production which are Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Wadjet the Egyptian God, and Ptolemy, Cleopatra’s brother. There’s also Octavian and I decided to expand the strength of the role of Octavia in the ballet too.

 

There’s a lot of pressure for the leading female?

Cleopatra is on stage a lot with only a few scenes taking place without her. At the end there’s a long pas de deux that goes into a solo section and then into another pas de deux totalling about 16 minutes of non-stop dancing so it is demanding but it’s Cleopatra’s story so she has to tell it.

 

A lot of people have pre-conceived ideas about Cleopatra. What is the story of your ballet?

Every movie and TV series portrays Cleopatra in a different way. I wanted to focus on her not as a seductress but as an intelligent, sensual woman, who always has her country at the forefront of her mind. She’s a mother and a wife but also born to be a Queen and a Goddess. The ballet is about the woman and how she handles the key events in her life. I drew from contemporary references to include actions and events that really took place, such as when she drinks a pearl from a cup, to add to the surface story. It also focuses on how Cleopatra is centred around chaos at all moments in her life. When she’s first betrothed to Ptolemy it creates chaos in Egypt, when she becomes involved with Julius Caesar it creates a chaos in Rome which results in his assassination and she creates another chaos with Mark Antony in which Octavian has to come and take over. Even if she isn’t trying to create a chaos she seems to have a natural ability to do so with her relationships.

 

Do people need to have a pre-existing understanding of Cleopatra before coming to the ballet?

No, I think the story is easy to understand and the emotional journey and symbolism is clear. With the death of Cleopatra came the death of Egypt, there was not another Pharaoh, and the Egyptian Gods themselves disappeared.

 

What will audiences most enjoy about this production?

The power of the dance and the music; the music is wonderful. Claude-Michel Schönberg writes music that people listen to easily and dancers dance to easily. Our dancers are emotional artists and they’re able to show physical passion that turns into absolute intimacy and that’s the kind of thing I want the audience to see in the expression. There’s also glamour to the production, it has romance, intrigue, sex and fighting.

 

Tell us about the costumes.  

I wanted the dancers more physically exposed with this production so whereas in other ballets they’re covered up, this is the opposite where they wear as little as possible. They have extraordinary beautiful bodies and they use them so expressively. The ballet is about how people engage physically and if you dress them up then they’re not going to get that and you can lose a lot of choreography beneath the costumes; but not in this production.

 

 

 

Tell us about the sets.

The set provides a beautiful blank palette for the projections and are not over-the-top Egyptian. Cleopatra was the first production where we used projections and they’re easier to change than sets whilst being able to provide greater versatility and add texture and effects such as a stone wall or flowers falling without creating a mess on stage that needs to be cleared as you do with physical flowers. Projections also allow for smoother set transitions as they just melt into each other. The design gives a contemporary interpretation with a sense of Egypt where you can feel the heat and the sun and the dancers’ costumes are bold and colourful to add to the backdrop.

 

How is it different creating a ballet with a brand new character versus adapting a pre-existing story like A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

The freedom allows you to create the story as there is no well-known ballet version of Cleopatra and the play is not one of the most popular so it makes it more comfortable to take the historic references to shape the story of the ballet.

 

How does the preparation of reviving an existing ballet compare with putting together a brand new production as you did recently with Cinderella?

When you’re creating a new ballet you have to come up with the ideas and discover it in the studio. To revive an existing ballet you have to look at it again to see if there’s anything that you can improve upon or clarify but more importantly you’re working with dancers that had performed it before and so you’re taking them on a further journey. Martha Leebolt and Tobias Batley (Cleopatra and Mark Antony) have been talking about how they might perform Cleopatra this time.

 

Has anything changed in this revival versus the 2011 production?

No, it was pretty definitive when we made it. There’s always a little tweaking of steps but there’s no big scene or character changes.

 

How do you choose who will dance Cleopatra?

You choose it according to the ability of the dancer to do the role. It’s not enough to just look the part of Cleopatra but she has to be able to sustain the 16-minute dance section at the end of the ballet which is incredibly physical and demanding. They have to have the correct physical appearance as they’re quite exposed in the costumes and they have to have the beauty and allure of Cleopatra, but they also have to be strong and able to be partnered by four different men.

 

What is your favourite moment of the ballet?

I have quite a few favourite moments but the end of the ballet from when Cleopatra returns after Mark Antony commits suicide is my favourite section. It’s non-stop and is the real climax and perfect culmination of the ballet.

 

Is Cleopatra a flawed character? What are her weaknesses?

I think everybody is flawed and Cleopatra, for all of her intelligence, was perhaps thinking too narrow in that she kept thinking that uniting with one of the Romans would enable her to rule. It shows her lack of understanding in the difference between the cultures. She was a Pharaoh and a Goddess but that was a no for the Roman Empire. She was going to have to shift her thinking and step back from being a Queen and become something else to have ever been acceptable in the political situation in Rome. She thought she could take her own culture and put it onto the Roman Empire.

 

How important is it to have the input of your dancers into creating a character like Cleopatra?

For me it was critical, an integral part of creating the ballet for all the characters. Kenneth Tindall made some key input into the creation of Wadjet without which it would never have come out like it did. Martha Leebolt and Tobias Batley displayed willingness and openness to create the characters of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. We also had many young physical men in the Company who helped to shape the fight scene. In most of my work, collaborating with my dancers is vital.

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Cleopatra – Interview with Claude-Michel Schönberg - Composer

 

What is it about the story of Cleopatra that inspired you?

Cleopatra is a story of power, love, violence, passion and death which are all the ingredients to make a wonderful story.  On top of that the lead character is a beautiful, sensuous woman in a time when only men ruled the world. She represents the end of an era, the last Pharaoh of Egypt.

 

How does the music convey Cleopatra’s different life events and emotions?

I know how to tell stories via music, or at least I try, and that’s why the score is an expression of the material and emotions of power, love, violence, passion and death; all themes within the story of an iconic woman in our history. 

 

How does composing for a ballet differ from musicals?

In a ballet you are very exposed as you can't hide behind the voices. But the advantage is to be free of a range of problems such as change of key and structure of the lyrics. It's a different approach but very gratifying.

 

Where did you get your inspiration for the score?

To be inspired I need to "see" something first and it is not difficult to imagine Cleopatra trying to seduce Julius Caesar. I tried to imagine myself as a member of the audience and the music more or less flowed.

 

How did you collaborate with David Nixon, Choreographer, to produce the score?

I played the overture I imagined for Wadjet and Cleopatra to David and from that day on we agreed on the score as we went along. As I played him the latest composition, he would give me notes and we went through the ballet in this way. I remember his look of surprise when I played to him the death of Cleopatra; he had not expected the final bars to be so sweet and blissful. I saw an emotion in his eyes.  For me that is a good omen!

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Cleopatra – Interview with Nina Dunn – Projection Designer

 

Tell us about projections and how theyre used in Cleopatra.

The projections in Cleopatra are designed to work on two principal levels: the practical and the emotional. On the one hand, they work in combination with Christopher Giles’ refined and minimal design to create a sense of place: the tomb and temples of Egypt; the courtyards and palaces of Rome, the Nile and the harem alike. For this, we have used a complex mapping technique that allows us not only to map the projections to every part of the set but also to create tricks of perspective. So the demarcation between Egypt and Rome are defined by contrasting simpler, two-dimensional imagery with stronger, more solid three-dimensional architecture.

 

On the second level, however, the imagery is designed to evoke emotion, motive and narrative using colour and movement, elements like fire and clouds and the animation of symbolic and emotive motifs within the patterns. Towards the latter part of the show, we create a simple, abstract atmospheric state linked closely with Tim Mitchell’s lighting that takes us back to the start of the journey.

 

Are there challenges producing projections for a ballet versus other types of events?

I think the main challenge for me when it comes to dance (as opposed to Opera or Theatre, for example) is working without a script and with a score that is evolving as rehearsals progress. The script or story is usually my starting place, followed by the music and although the history of the characters at play here is well known, the directors have re-conceived the story in their own interpretation so I had to change the way I worked. This proved very healthy as we end up with something more gestural that leaves the space open for the dancers but supports the narrative in non-literal ways.

 

What do projections bring to a production that is different than sets?

Video, as a medium, can be very flexible in its remit: once you decide to employ the tool on any production, the potential for what you can create is extremely broad as it falls between (and straddles) all the other tools within the Theatre including set, lighting, sound, sometimes even narrative and character. If it is employed as a truly integrated part of the whole, it has the potential to create true magic on stage. It should never replace a set as it works best in combination with designed physical elements but the key difference when it is used scenically is the amount of time it takes to change scenes or states. This was extremely necessary with Claude-Michel’s score that flows at a pace, carrying the narrative between locations and situations at break-neck speed and we were able to remain light on our feet without the need for multiple complex scene changes.

 

Did you face any difficulties whilst producing projections for Cleopatra?

One of the main creative challenges on this show was how to evoke the sense of place and time that was required without falling into traps of pastiche and heavy-handed literalism. I hope we managed to create something that floats in the right way! On a technical level, aside from the usual budgetary challenges involved in creating theatrical work that has high aspirations, this was the first time that Northern Ballet had employed projection and they really jumped in with both feet. The resulting design remains one of the most complex to achieve that I have created on a technical level, especially where the 3D effects are concerned as the projectors have to cover a huge area from an onstage position and the surfaces that they were ‘looking at’ were from a vastly different perspective to what the audience was seeing. We had to formulate a new way of creating the type of three-dimensional perspective effects required both through content, programming and pre-visualisation. This meant that the show required expert crew on hand when touring to manage the projection set-up in addition to the Northern Ballet staff for whom the involvement of projection on this level was the first occasion that they had used it; it proved to be a huge learning curve.

 

What do you enjoy about producing projections?

I enjoy the fact that I have a different remit on each show and that I bridge all departments. When I am involved at an early stage as I was with this production, the potential is huge. I also love being able to help solve theatrical problems in new ways by employing my tools. Quite often there is a shoot involved with cast members and this allows me to get a little closer to their processes and get to know them ahead of tech, which is a bonus. And I do like a bit of happy accident as there can be with technology if you are in a position to embrace it.

 

Do you think having projections instead of lots of solid scenery for Cleopatra was the right choice to make?

In Cleopatra, the projections do not replace the set, rather the set was designed specifically to be simple and suggestive to take projections well. It was therefore possible to avoid the use of lots of solid scenery and remain relatively static throughout the show since most of the ‘scene changes’ were facilitated by the projection. When I first met the team, the explained that they wanted to leave as much space for the dancers as possible and therefore the use of projection in the role it undertook was absolutely the right choice. This is also a popular touring show so on a logistical level, the idea was that less scenery would have to be transported and the transfers between venues could be swift although the ambition of the directors was such that the projection inevitably required quite a long focus time compared to other shows with projection so I think no time was saved there in reality. But I do believe that the use of projections serve the show well.

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Cleopatra – Syndicated interview with Mark Skipper – Chief Executive

 

Why did you choose Cleopatra to open Northern Ballet’s new spring season?

We chose Cleopatra because it was successful. We try to have one new full length production every year but we also have to bring popular productions back from our stock of repertoire. When we performed Cleopatra in 2011 it was very popular and audiences kept asking us when they could see it again. Now felt like a good time to bring it back.

 

How well do you think Cleopatra will be received in comparison to the World Première in 2011?

Hopefully just as well. It can be a bit of a gamble because anecdotally people say they’d love to see it again but in reality when they’ve got to buy a ticket people can have second thoughts. There’s a risk with the current economic situation that people might think twice about buying a ticket for a show they’ve previously seen and would rather wait and save their money for something new.

 

How did you decide where to tour Cleopatra, was it a conscious effort to go back to Leeds Grand Theatre and Sheffield Lyceum Theatre?

We have two, three, or even four seasons in Leeds so we have to have more repertoire here than venues like Canterbury or Milton Keynes which we only go to once a year.  It was really about choosing venues where we know the work was popular and we imagine would be successful again.  We also try to keep the programme varied as we have a range of repertoire which needs to be balanced out over the whole year. It is difficult because repertoire doesn’t always follow a logical progression. Every time we revive a production we also have to consider the cost and the amount of work that goes into rehearsal time for both the Orchestra and the dancers.

 

What is it that is so appealing about the story of Cleopatra?

It’s a great story from history. We always have difficulties choosing which titles to do and it’s about coming up with titles that people recognise and feel comfortable with. We felt Cleopatra was the sort of person that appeals to audiences, people believe they know Cleopatra, what she was and what she did. In terms of dance, it lends itself to lots of possibilities to actually create the pas de deux and other elements you need in dance because of the relationships between Cleopatra and Caesar and Cleopatra and Mark Antony. There are plenty of big ensemble opportunities too, as well as a lot of smaller parts that give the Company the chance to play different roles.

 

How was it different creating a brand new character, such as Cleopatra, rather than simply readapting an existing story like Cinderella?

I think it’s the same in some ways. There is the classic fairytale story of Cinderella that we all know and then there is a historical story that was Cleopatra’s life. How we decide to interpret each tale is still telling our own version of how things happened and I expect that the story that we tell of Cleopatra is not exactly historically correct.  With a fairytale it doesn’t necessarily matter what you do with the story so long as the theme remains. I think the difference is that we try and be true to history with a story like Cleopatra but you’ve got the freedom with something like Cinderella to do what you like, within reason, to audience expectations.

 

What does it mean to have Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated Claude-Michel Schönberg, as composer and what does it add to the production?

It’s great! He has such a reputation in terms of the work he’s done in musicals such as Les Misérables and Miss Saigon. In terms of promoting the production to actually be able to say that this is Claude-Michel Schönberg’s production of Cleopatra certainly adds something to the communications campaign. That said, I like his music personally as well and for us to have the opportunity to work with somebody of such standing is amazing! He did a great score for us in Wuthering Heights several years ago so getting the chance to work with him again is pretty incredible.

 

Do you foresee any challenges with the revival of Cleopatra?

Any time we revive something there is the job of replicating what we had before but to be honest once you’ve created something and established it then actually bringing it back is pretty easy. The challenges we may face can be how much rehearsal time it will take to bring it back since half the Company has changed since we last performed it but ultimately we should be able to replicate the way we did it in 2011. The biggest challenge is the scenery projections, you have to get them absolutely spot on so in some ways that’s why we don’t do it too often because in some theatres, to actually get the projectors to do exactly what we want them to, can prove to be quite tricky.  They have to be certain distances from the stage and you need to get the right angle and the reality is some theatres just aren’t right for it.

 

Following the performance of Cinderella ‘the biggest show to date’ do you think Cleopatra will have a hard time meeting the audience’s expectations of a Northern Ballet production?

I don’t think so because Cleopatra is such a different story. We use projections to show quite a lot of the scenery so in some ways the setting looks more impressive than what we had for Cinderella. There’s one scene where the projection displays Roman columns that appear to be bleeding which add another dimension to the solid bits of scenery, the likes of which we had for Cinderella. So, Cleopatra is actually hugely spectacular in its own right.

 

Will there be any changes to the 2011 production?

I would be surprised if there were but that’s the beauty of having an in-house choreographer. As it is their work they can make changes to it as they go along and as they feel they want to. When you’ve bought something from an outside choreographer you are not entitled to change it at all so it stays absolutely rigid. I think that’s also the beauty of being able to revive something as the choreographer has the opportunity to go back to it and if there were bits that he didn’t like, he can just adjust them a bit and there’s the flexibility to evolve the choreography in rehearsals. It allows them to change it how they see fit but I imagine that for Cleopatra very little will change.

 

Is it easier to revive existing productions than to create a new one and how?

It is still easier to recreate something that already exists, definitely. We’ve got all the sets and the costumes; we know how the scene changes work and what quick costume changes there are.  In that respect it is definitely easier to revive an existing production but always most exciting to create a new one.

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