The Royal Ballet: Woolf Works, Spring 2015

[zxDaveM]

if you look along the autitorium - between the layers as it were - there are clusters of 3, 4 or 5 lamps in red shades for the house lights. These are part of the grade 1 listing i believe, so cannot be changed for newer types (though I'd imagine the fitting and the light bulbs in them are much more modern!)

[SPD444]

Wonder if they use these new energy efficient light bulbs?

[zxDaveM]

not sure they can - as I recall those don't work too well with dimmer switches...

[alison]

You can get bulbs which are dimmer-compatible, though not many of them.

 

I've seen this bill twice now, and have come to the conclusion that I Now, I Then is better seen from close up, and that Becomings and Tuesday need a bit of height to be appreciated at full advantage. 

[SPD444]

You can get bulbs which are dimmer-compatible, though not many of them.

 

I've seen this bill twice now, and have come to the conclusion that I Now, I Then is better seen from close up, and that Becomings and Tuesday need a bit of height to be appreciated at full advantage. 

 

 

Easy peasy, just buy two tickets

[zxDaveM]

They were the points where the lasers hit the walls - the intensity giving some idea of their power.

Right at the end (last few secs before curtain down) a fresh batch of lasers illuminated the auditorium - these were indeed located near the historic ROH lamps.

 

actually, they may have been mirrors in the auditorium....

[GTL]

..Also, what is that thing for that looks like an old fashioned telephone receiver, hanging over the auditorium near the curtain? ..

It could be a microphone hanging over the orchestra to relay the sound backstage, e.g. to dressing rooms.

[Jan McNulty]

Glowing review from The National Student.

[cavycapers]

If taking a very literal approach, Becoming might be close-ish to the text. The Becoming section of the book has Orlando calling a self to her that initially refuses to appear, instead a huge amount of her previous selves (like snapshots of her character in time?) spin past. After some fairly psychedelic writing, her true self finally appears and being re-united with, erm, herself I guess, allows Orlando to rejoin time in the present day.

On stage, we have Orlando after Orlando - self after self appearing. A light show fantastic - matching the frenetic tone and tempi of the writing, and then possibly the 'true self' joining the curtain call as a fairly male yet very female Orlando resplendent in Elizabethan dress.

As a theory, it probably won't stand up, but it'll do me. Might even buy the programme to see whether that sheds any light.

Either way, I really like Orlando, and find I enjoy it more when I stop trying to figure out who is dancing. They are now all Orlando to me. Possibly even characters that weren't meant to be Orlando.

Hello Coated. Sorry, away from the subject, but every time I see your signature picture of the little furry creature, I wonder what it is. Is it a Bush Baby? I love it by the way.

[alison]

By the way, did anyone else but me spot bits of this they thought were rather Cunningham-esque?  And something about the music for Becomings has reminded me, at various times, of Tryst and DGV!

[Fonty]

Quote from the National Student: "Woolf Works makes every other ballet seem second rate."

 

When I read things like that, I start to wonder just how many other ballets the writer has seen!

[alison]

My thoughts exactly.

[FLOSS]

Well, I get that sort of feeling all the time whether it's ballet, opera or straight theatre. There are so many new works and/or performances of old works which are described in such hyperbolic terms in journals and newspapers where you might expect a balanced critical response that I am frequently left wondering what else,if anything, the writer has seen or heard.I get that reaction when ever I see a goodish performance being praised to the skies or when what seems to have been the standard way of staging a particular play for the last thirty plus years is written about as if it is wonderfully inventive and dealing a death blow to a traditional style of production that ceased to exist sometime in the late nineteen fifties.

 

I begin to feel that critics should be required to disclose their date of birth, that way we would get some idea of the likely range and extent of their experience to help us gauge the value to be placed on their opinion. It is one thing to read a review written by an experienced theatre critic telling you that a new work that everyone else gas dismissed is a work of genius,which is what happened to Peter Hall's first production of Waiting for Godot,quite another to read such a review from someone who is unlikely to have seen much else. Perhaps the author of this particular review only has a performance or two of Nutcracker as background.That would explain a great deal.But then who knows he/she might be the equivalent of a young Kenneth Tynan. We all learn to single out the critic who has seen or heard the same thing that you did when you went to a particular performance and those who have particular obsessions.It is a very rare critic who makes you review your opinion of a particular writer, composer or choreographer by pointing out aspects of their work that you have somehow managed to miss.

 

I agree that the first and third sections of this work have echoes of other works, at some points I was reminded of MacMillan's Las Hernanas, but then some of Ashton'w works echo or quote Massine and Nijinska. That does not matter, it's what you do with the ideas that you are reusing that counts. Ashton always managed to add something really interesting to what he was borrowing so that it was transformed and became his I am not entirely sure that McGregor managed this.

Edited May 23, 2015 by FLOSS

[Nina G.]

Floss I find myself agreeing with most if not all of your posts. Must have something to do with our date of birth  

[Booklover89]

I begin to feel that critics should be required to disclose their date of birth, that way we would get some idea of the likely range and extent of their experience to help us gauge the value to be placed on their opinion.

 

FLOSS, with respect, that is a little bit patronising.  Not all young (in ballet terms) audience members are limited in dance-watching or other cultural experience and age doesn't necessarily equate with the kind of broad and varied experience which you rightly value in a critic.  Though I do agree that the response to Woolf Works above is hyperbolic, remember that the positive experience may well encourage the writer to go and see more ballet in future.

[Duck]

A third viewing today, I couldn't help it.

 

From the three performances that I have now seen, today for the first time Tuesday received the loudest applause. And today thankfully the curtain only started to descend when Alessandra Ferri was already fully lying on the floor, this really helped keeping the applause off for a couple of seconds.

 

Surprisingly, only limited numbers of red programmes were available to buy for those who had not previously purchased a programme voucher. I don't always go to the second to last performance of a ballet however it's not something that I've seen before. Is this a recurring feature?

 

Some aspects though don’t change. The duet between Watson and Dyer in I Now, I Then and the letter and the mounting waves in Tuesday get me every time. I would love Woolf Works to be recorded on DVD and back on stage soon again.

[SPD444]

My second viewing at today's matinee and loved it even more. First time standing up to, in the SCS, great view just a bit hard on the old knees and back. Never mind who can argue for £6. Agree with Duck, more please and I'll second the DVD.

[aileen]

This is the first programme that my husband has badgered me to get a ticket for, having heard that it was based on the works of Virginia Woolf. He liked I Now, I Then best. I saw the programme from the stalls today and enjoyed it much more, particularly I Now, I Then. I still wasn't completely won over by Tuesday. The pdds for Ferri/Bonelli were beautiful and moving but I found the choreography for the corps a bit dull and repetitive. Despite its association with Waves, the ballet is really about Woolf's suicide (imo) and the only clear reference to Waves seemed to be the six children, whose stories were not told as far as I could see. I feel that, despite some flaws, McGregor has created something very distinctive and original and I am confident that these works are 'keepers' either individually or together.

[John Mallinson]

Tuesday is really best seen from above as the ebb and flow and turmoil of the sea is much more evident and effective.

[Duck]

I agree with Aileen, it would be really useful to have the story of the children in Tuesday explained. Are the six children the six characters in the book when they are children? Or are they Susan's children (Susan in the book reportedly modelled based on Woolf's sister, Vanessa Bell) when she is older? Either way, sadly no information in the ballet or the programme.

 

I am slowly making my way through The Waves and have now finished the second chapter (when the six characters finish school and part into different directions). I was surprised to find that, both at the end of the first and the second chapter, the final paragraph describes a character being surrounded by and embedded in waves as a means to describe the whirlwind of emotions that the character experiences at that point in time. I thus had a quick look at subsequent chapters, and the pattern of a description of waves in the final paragraph of a chapter appears a few more times. So I start to think that, while Woolf's suicide clearly is the main topic of Tuesday, the ballet does also draw on the recurring theme of a character being tossed around by waves (i.e., emotions). I hope it's ok under the Community guidelines to provide the following short quotes from the book. In the first chapter "... they heap themselves on me; they sweep me between their great shoulders; I am turned; I am tumbled ...", and in the second chapter "I become drawn in, tossed down, thrown sky-high". Reading these paragraphs, I see Ferri being lifted and thrown around with increasing intensity, before she is finally laid to rest.

[zxDaveM]

 

 

I the following short quotes from the book. In the first chapter "... they heap themselves on me; they sweep me between their great shoulders; I am turned; I am tumbled ...", and in the second chapter "I become drawn in, tossed down, thrown sky-high". Reading these paragraphs, I see Ferri being lifted and thrown around with increasing intensity, before she is finally laid to rest.

 

that very much sounds like the inspiration for the corps dancing in 'Tuesday' too, doesn't it! Lovely - thanks for taking the time to extract it for us.

[penelopesimpson]

Just got back from the Matinee.  Overwhelmed by the First Part, particularly Watson pas de deaux and Haywards work.  So moving, totally fab.  Also second act which others have been critical of.  I am an amateur critic but I loved it and I hadn't mugged up on Woolf beforehand  (the progamme tells you nothing).  For the first time began to see what people like in Sarah Lamb who has hitherto left me cold.

 

Third act not so good for me.  Choreography for large groups could learn from the Schecter I saw last month.  Thought this act was lacking in drama and, as another poster has said, repetitive.

 

Star of the day was the score, absolutely wonderful, ditto lighting.

 

WM has come good - at last - for me.

 

Have to add that I hate matinees.  Three Americans infront of me.  Teenage girl practically in tears when told she had to turn her mobile off.  Spent entire performance fidgeting and cuddling up to Mum.  I longed to tell them to get a room.  Some of us save our pennies for these special days and they really spoilt it for me.  Can't kids be dumped somewhere if they don't want to come?

[penelopesimpson]

Forgot to add that Ferri is great but not so great that she should take the first solo curtain call.  Thought that was OTT.

[Duck]

that very much sounds like the inspiration for the corps dancing in 'Tuesday' too, doesn't it! Lovely - thanks for taking the time to extract it for us.

 

Thank you     I just wish I would have started to read The Waves earlier as there may be other elements in the book which I would then possibly also be able to see in the ballet. 160 pages left to go, no way I'll be able to read them all before next Tuesday. So the joy of reading Woolf will continue beyond next week.

 

Oh - the final performance of Tuesday on a Tuesday ... However this is now me getting carried away as surely the title of the ballet was decided much more recently than the date of the final performance. ;-)

[zxDaveM]

Forgot to add that Ferri is great but not so great that she should take the first solo curtain call.  Thought that was OTT.

 

The work was virtually made for her. Her emotional tug, and almost spiritual dancing, was the feature, almost the point of the work - well, parts 1 and 3 anyway. Aside from that, she is a RB legend - so for my money deserved every brava, and stand-up applause she got.

[penelopesimpson]

Okay, take your point about Ferri, but she was not, FOR ME, the standout of the performance.  Great, yes, fab, no.

[Jan McNulty]

I begin to feel that critics should be required to disclose their date of birth, that way we would get some idea of the likely range and extent of their experience to help us gauge the value to be placed on their opinion.

 

 

 

FLOSS, with respect, that is a little bit patronising.  Not all young (in ballet terms) audience members are limited in dance-watching or other cultural experience and age doesn't necessarily equate with the kind of broad and varied experience which you rightly value in a critic.  Though I do agree that the response to Woolf Works above is hyperbolic, remember that the positive experience may well encourage the writer to go and see more ballet in future.

 

 

I agree with Booklover on this.  Many years ago, as a ballet-watching newbie, I saw a double bill in Vienna that comprised Daphnis and Chloe and The Firebird - neither of them Ashton or Fokine.  I loved both of them, and especially Daphnis.  Some months later there was a long review of the same programme danced elsewhere in either Dancing Times or Dance & Dancers.  This review spent 2 pages bemoaning the fact that Daphnis wasn't Ashton's and Firebird wasn't Fokine's.  The review, obviously by a critic of long standing, did not really critique the performance seen.  I had not, at that stage, seen either the Ashton or the Fokine so how was that review supposed to help me as a newbie move forward in my appreciation.

 

I only started watching ballet in 1984 so I have never seen any of the original Ashton casts so glowingly written about by people watching longer than me.  I can only judge what I have seen.  OK I can compare casts over the years and talk to people.  One friend of mine enjoyed a BRB performance of Fille, including the lady who danced Lise.  But he told me that though he enjoyed her performance she was not an Ashton dancer from the waist up.  Having explained to me what he meant I then began to notice these things more.  But if you have never had the opportunity to see earlier casts or be able to learn something from someone else's experience, all you can do is describe what you have seen.

 

Anyway, back to Mr McGregor.  I am looking forward to seeing Tree of Codes in Manchester in July.  I wish I could have seen Woolf Works but the dates did not work for me.

[alison]

Some aspects though don’t change. The duet between Watson and Dyer in I Now, I Then and the letter and the mounting waves in Tuesday get me every time. I would love Woolf Works to be recorded on DVD and back on stage soon again.

 

I said the other night that I could almost watch that duet on endless loop.  And I agree about the DVD: I kept looking at the relevant parts of the stalls and stalls circle to see if cameras were present, but unfortunately not.

 

Tuesday is really best seen from above as the ebb and flow and turmoil of the sea is much more evident and effective.

 

I definitely agree on this: I've seen it twice now from the stalls circle, and the effect is greatly reduced from there.  You don't so much get the effect of Ferri being swamped and overwhelmed by the waves.

[Jacqueline]

I attended the matinee yesterday, I admit more to see Alessandra Ferri than the work itself. She did not disappoint, I found her mesmerizing and beautiful. She really has the most extraordinary presence and expressiveness, even in the smallest of gestures or just standing still. I never saw her live before but it was worth the wait. 

I had decided not to read up too much in advance, other than what I already know about Virginia Woolf, which admittedly is not a great deal. I found myself sitting next to a knowledgeable lady over from Sweden for the performance, who gave me a brief rundown of what I should know and also showed me a quote from V.W. she had had tattooed on her arm. Which was nice. She was also staying in a b&b which is the house where V.W. was born I think. So she was going for the whole experience! 

Anyway, I enjoyed the first piece, I found it interesting to watch although it did remind me a little of the Brandstrup last autumn. Federico Bonelli was a wonderful partner for Ferri, they looked very comfortable together.I found some of the programme notes, which I read afterwards, to match my own thoughts on Miss Ferri and everything she brought to the performance. Both she and McGregor comment about age and using a dancer in her 50's, with all the experience and 'baggage' she brings. 

As I was watching her, this feeling came over very strongly, that she is of a certain age - my age - and I felt able to relate to that. I also thought her presence and this facet of it, gave the production a certain gravitas it might not otherwise have and possibly doesn't deserve, but that is just my opinion

Programmes were apparently in short supply, as mentioned earlier. There was a sign up saying this was due to 'unprecedented demand' and the shop had none. They were however, available for ticket carrying patrons in the usual places and a steward told me the shortage was due to the ticket sales having been very slow to start. The number of programmes produced is calculated according to ticket sales and initially, it looked as though they may only need about three boxes. Then of course, sales took off but they could not re - order in time so supplies were being rationed. I have been reading through it this morning and found it more interesting than expected. It also has some lovely photographs and not too much pretentious filler.

Meanwhile, onto Becomings. I afraid I became bored with this piece rather rapidly. After a promising start, with Osipova taking the breath away with her incredible agility and speed, I though perhaps we were really onto something new but for me at least, we were soon back in Wayne's World of familiar tics, twitches and funny walks. I found it repetitive and the lasers/lighting although clever, did nothing for me. The whole thing certainly had a look of pots of money being thrown at it but I was glad when it was over and I don't want to see it again. I felt I had seen it all before anyway, a million times.

Tuesday was pleasing if again, a little repetitive. I was sitting in the Grand Tier and after a while I had to look away from the waves film, as its slowness of movement was making me feel a bit queasy. It may have been better as a full backdrop rather than above their heads, but as has been said, the effects look different according to where one sits and it is all a matter of perception. 

Again, Ferri and Bonelli were lovely together. I liked it but it didn't move me. But that may be because I am not easily moved.

I think Ferri deserved every moment of the applause and that as she is the 'star', there was nothing strange about her taking the first curtain call. It would have been odd not to. This is Alessandra Ferri, she is indeed a legend!

I was wondering why there were no flowers,first time I can recall nobody getting a bouquet. 

Just a few thoughts to wrap,I don't want to bore everyone stiff. From what I can remember of the score, it reminded me of The Winter's Tale in that for me,despite being a big feature it was unmemorable and what I can remember, mostly from Becomings, it was not something I want to hear again.

I think the first and third parts work, but as said earlier, much of that is due to the presence, literally and metaphorically of Miss Ferri. All three parts could stand alone. Becomings also reminded me of Eonnagata, a place for it might be found on the same shelf. I felt the two have some similar features.

Interesting that London is currently home to both Guillem and Ferri, two extremely different dancers but fascinating to compare careers and styles. 

As a footnote, my new Swedish friend recommended that I watch the film Orlando starring Tilda Swinton and I advised her to try Romeo and Juliet with Ferri and Wayne Eagling.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Jacqueline

[John Mallinson]

…

I was wondering why there were no flowers,first time I can recall nobody getting a bouquet. 

…

 

 

I don't think Wayne McGregor's dancers ever get given flowers on stage.

[zxDaveM]

I think they had flowers on opening night, though I'm happy to be corrected on that.

[nickwellings]

After seeing this on Wednesday, and enjoying Parts I and III, my next thoughts were how they would revive it. Does it necessarily need an older female lead to convince? And would it be as good without Ms Ferri?

I would like to see the second cast for the last show, but I have a feeling that getting tickets might be difficult!

Edited May 24, 2015 by nickwellings

[SPD444]

I think they had flowers on opening night, though I'm happy to be corrected on that.

 

 

Yes, I think they did.