Birmingham
Royal Ballet is on a creative commissioning spree. Set on widening its audience
at home and away, the company has been funnelling resources into a range of choreographic
initiatives and collaborations, and its shows are looking sharper for it.
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Performance
Birmingham Royal Ballet: “A Brief Nostalgia” / “The Suit” / “Nine Sinatra Songs”
Place
Sadler’s Wells, London, UK, November 2019
Words
Sara Veale
Cira Robinson in “The Suit” by Cathy Marston. Photograph by Bill Cooper
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BRB’s autumn
mixed bill, for example, includes a slot for Ballet Black to perform Cathy
Marston’s “The Suit,” an award-winning 2018 work based on a short story from
South African writer Can Themba. The narrative describes a housewife’s affair
and the turmoil it rains on her marriage—thorny material that Marston distils
into a crisp, evocative piece of dance. It’s characteristically strong
storytelling from the choreographer responsible for expressive gems like 2016’s
“Jane Eyre.” Lust, anguish and blame unfold fluidly, bracketed by tidy narrative
strokes and glancing choreography that underscore Ballet Black’s dramatic
talents.
Cira Robinson
is radiant in the central role, but it’s the ensemble that catches my eye.
These five dancers bear witness to the tragedy at hand, amplifying its nuances,
from the disruption of domestic routines to the upending of selfhood. In early
scenes the group animates the physical infrastructure of the home, stepping in
as human sinks, mirrors, coat racks; later their presence become elusive—a subtle
grain that quietly enhances Marston’s world-building.
The affair itself is tense, taut and groovy, bolstered by some decadent partnering between Robinson and Mthuthuzeli November, the pair drifting in a sea of desire. Jose Alves pulls us in a different direction with his distraught husband turn, transfiguring the clothes of his rival into a hairshirt that haunts both spouses. By the time the noose emerges, it feels like the only possible conclusion—Marston’s deft chronicling is that precise.
From the BRB
side is a new work from Queensland Ballet dancer Jack Lister, commissioned as
part of Ballet Now, a newish programme for budding choreographers. “A Brief
Nostalgia” conjures drama not through plot but atmosphere, casting its dancers
into a moody shadowscape of looming walls and stark flashes of light. Tense,
thumping music from newcomer Tom Harrold draws the cast from the dusky wings,
sending them into each other’s arms.
The ballet aims to evoke the emotional triggers of memory, and there’s certainly punch in its emotive language and booming theatricality. “Nostalgia” seems like a misnomer, though; there’s little wistfulness to the dancing, which speaks more to grief and vulnerability, particularly the partnering, with its vicious contractions and stretchy, urgent lifts. The choreography is fragmented across various permutations, large and small-scale, culminating in a duet that cuts tunnels across a current of rolling smoke. It’s lithe wrangling, even if the themes are unfocused.
The bill
concludes with Twyla Tharp’s “Nine Sinatra Songs,” a 1982 number that’s never
quite as glamorous as its seductive music promises. Seven couples showboat
under a purple disco ball, some racy, others cutesy. The ballroom elements sit
uneasily alongside the ballet ones, and you never escape the feeling that it’s
ballroom being performed by dancers who normally do ballet, though the BRB
troupe puts in a good show, Delia Matthews and Tyrone Singleton in particular, looking
red-hot as they throw splits to “That’s
Life.”
Elsewhere
there’s feline prowling to “One For My
Baby” and goofy prancing to “Something
Stupid,” plus Eilis Small and Brandon Lawrence’s melty, long-legged duet
to “All the Way.” The lines are
consistently lovely; it’s a just a little tame, lacking the honeyed charisma
that epitomises Sinatra. I’d rather watch the company throw its energy into new
ventures, even if they’re a swing and a miss. That gamble is where the
excitement’s at.
Sara Veale
Sara Veale is a London-based writer and editor. She's written about dance for the Observer, the Spectator, DanceTabs, Auditorium Magazine, Exeunt and more. Her first book, Untamed: The Radical Women of Modern Dance, will be published in 2024.
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