Phil Preece is at the Birmingham Hippodrome
February 17, 2015
A great start to Birmingham Royal Ballet’s new season celebrating the Royal Ballet’s own choreographic heritage. Their first offering is a double bill of Frederick Ashton works, starting with his version of Shakespeare’s timeless A Midsummer Night’s Dream featuring Mendelssohn’s famous suite as its score.
In only 40 minutes Ashton’s witty filleting of the play gives a magical glimpse of the comedy occurring when mortals stray into the supernatural night-time world. Amongst a series of beautiful set pieces, Demetrius and Lysander sparring as the lovers while they suffer “star-crossed eyes” stood out, also Matthias Dingman’s springing Puck and Jonathan Caguioa’s very funny Bottom. Joseph Caley and Nao Sakuma’s final pas de deux as Oberon and Titania made the impossible look easy.
Photo Bill Cooper
But this lesson in expertise was only a warm-up for the evening’s second Ashton offering, A Month in the Country. Even by this company’s high standards the production is a landmark – only great dancers could even begin to execute its technical demands in this way.
Based on Turgenev’s 1855 play, the arrival of tutor Beliaev into the home of a well-to-do Russian family is the signal for all the women to fall in love with him triggering his consequent dismissal. Another masterpiece of compression – again at only 40 minutes – this is high voltage drama.
Iain Mackay is at his peak as a dancer and actor here as the tutor who bursts upon the stale country home in this passionately powerful production. In an outstanding cast Michael O’Hare is marvellous as Yslaev the head of the household, Delia Mathews heartbreaking as his wife Natalia Petrovna, and Mathias Dingman delightfully exuberant as the fresh young son, while Yvette Knight as Katia the maid touchingly demonstrated how even the servants fell for the tutor’s charms.
A triumph.
The Dream and A Month in the Country run to February 20. Next week, BRB dance Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet from February 24-27.
For tickets visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com
For our dip into balletic Romeo and Juliet history, and a look at MacMillan’s classic version, click here.