Tears of a Clown

Created in the early sixties, Glen Tetley’s “Pierrot Lunaire” is a rarely revived little dance oddity. Marking his centenary, the Royal Ballet, who last performed the one-act ballet nearly twenty years ago, bring the psychedelic work back to the Linbury Theatre. While dinner and a show may be typically on the Valentine’s Day itinerary, my afternoon on the 14th was filled with visions of creepy clowns, phallic swords, and moon-drunk splendour.

Performance

The Royal Ballet: “Pierrot Lunaire” by Glen Tetley

Place

Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, UK, February 14, 2026

Words

Eoin Fenton

Joshua Junker (centre), Natalia Osipova, and Patricio Revé in “Pierrot Lunaire” by Glen Tetley. Photograph by Andrej Uspenski

The work is set to the original musical poems of Arnold Schoenberg, an odd work for a small instrumental ensemble and singer—performing in a half-spoken Sprechstimme style. Pierrot (Joshua Junker) encounters fellow stock characters Columbine (Natalia Osipova) and Brighella (Patricio Revé) in a moonlit adventure of lusty discovery and sexual mishaps. Pierrot, pure and white and perhaps a little slow, is a pathetic figure, toyed with like a fool for Brighella and Columbine’s kicks. It’s a dark, cautionary tale, with a moral that vindictive couples in open relationships are best avoided. How little has changed since 1962.

Tetley’s language here is largely classical, with a few allusions to the fleshier modern techniques of the era. He seems less interested in laying a clear story out for us, after all the Schoenberg score and its libretto are anything but lucid and straight-forward. It’s more like a dream, in the unromantic sense, a meandering narrative in a quasi-familiar landscape (if you’re familiar at all with Commedia dell’Arte). If not, the work may look more like the evening entertainment for a clown orgy, including shibari and restraints, but it's Valentine’s Day, who am I to judge?

Joshua Junker and Natalia Osipova in “Pierrot Lunaire” by Glen Tetley. Photograph by Andrej Uspenski

There are some pangs of an unaired Cbeebies special deemed too creepy for screening in Tetley’s work. The animated faces and uncanny makeup lend a sort of carnival-of-your-nightmares feel to the action. Osipova is especially adept at hamming up the oddness of it all, every look and gesture like a Punch & Judy puppet come to life. Junker, as the hapless Pierrot, brightens his eyes enough to be read to the back of the auditorium, his wonder and awe wider than the confines of the Linbury can hold.

Junker especially comes to life as the foil of the effortlessly sexy Revé, corrupting Pierrot with visions of earthly desire and kink—there’s even ample room for a bit of homoeroticism. Though the newly-hired principal Revé makes an impression, as does Osipova, the show really belongs to Junker. Articulate and expressive, he’s a magnetic guide through the off-kilter world of “Pierrot Lunaire”. Certain to have a marmite effect, I found the work to be a fun dive into the archives of the Royal Ballet. Though Glen Tetley left us nearly two decades ago his work still leaves us delighted and befuddled in equal measure. “Thank you so much for the ticket darling,” one patron said to her friend while leaving, “but I found it all rather baffling.”

Eoin Fenton

Eoin (they/he) is a dance maker and writer based in Cork (Rep. of Ireland), and London (UK). They have danced across Ireland and London in venues including The Place, Project Arts Centre Dublin and Galway Cathedral. Eoin graduated with a BA in Choreography from Middlesex University in 2024 and began writing as part of the Resolution Reviews programme. They are a regular contributor to A Young(ish) Perspective.

comments

Helen Mitchell 二月 17, 2026

Great site

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