United Kingdom Cinders!: Dancers of Scottish Ballet, Scottish Ballet Orchestra / Wolfgang Heinz (conductor). Edinburgh Competition Theatre, 5.1.2024. (SRT)
Creatives:
Music – Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography – Christopher Hampson CBE
Set and Design – Elin Steele
Lighting – Lawrie McLennan
Solid:
Cinders – Evan Loudon
Mom – Madeline Squire
Father – Benjamin Thomas
Mrs Thorne – Aisling Brangan
Morag – Grace Horler
Flossie – Kayla-Maree Tarantolo
Tarquin – Thomas Edwards
Princess Louise – Marge Hendrick
Duke of Orleans – Javier Andreu
Duke of Tonnerre – Aaron Venegas
Discovering a recent tackle a story as acquainted as Cinderella is a tall order, so Christopher Hampson, Scottish Ballet’s Creative Director, deserves a cheer for developing with one thing recent and fascinating for the corporate’s restaging of his personal 2015 manufacturing. It comes right down to gender. In some performances, Cinders (word the gender-neutral identify) is danced by a woman and recused by the good-looking prince, whereas in different performances Cinders is a boy who’s delivered from his grim life by the intervention of a princess. In a pleasant contact, the viewers doesn’t know which model of the story they will get till the curtain goes up.
It’s much more than a gimmick as a result of it forces the dancers to rethink their position within the story. In virtually each classical ballet, the assertive supply of vitality is the person, however when it’s the lady all the pieces must be framed otherwise, and there may be additionally the frisson of thriller for the viewers as to which telling you’ll get.
The idea sits inside Hampson’s larger concept for the piece, which is about in a clothes emporium relatively than in a fairytale kingdom. Cinders’ mother and father run the emporium however, after they die in a fireplace, the enterprise is taken over by the nasty Mrs Thorne who brings in her three ghastly youngsters. She permits Cinders to work there, however he/she is handled badly by the household. There isn’t a lot magic, however what there may be comes from the spirits of Cinders’ mother and father relatively than from a fairy godmother. Elin Steele’s pleasingly sturdy units look terrific, as do the Victorian period costumes, and there’s a stunning breath-catching second for the happily-ever-after ultimate tableau.
This tour spent the month of December in Glasgow’s Theatre Royal; I noticed it on its first evening in Edinburgh, when Cinders was danced by … a person! Firm Principal Evan Loudon danced the position with athleticism and vigour, although he cuts such a muscular presence on stage that you’d by no means for a second think about him being oppressed or put down by Mrs Thorne’s household. Once they torment him by ripping up the invitation to the ball, he may simply have lamped them and gone alongside anyway! Fellow Principal Marge Hendrick danced the princess, retaining the femininity of the half whereas bringing out the truth that she is finally in cost.
Hampson’s choreography is beautiful to have a look at it, if a bit of limiting for Hendrick’s princess. There are rather a lot of leaps and pirouettes, and I usually wished she had been given a bit extra to do. She involves life most in her attractive duets with Loudon’s Cinders, which barely undermines the concept of difficult the piece’s energy dynamic. The opposite elements are properly taken, nevertheless. Because the Thorne youngsters, Grace Horler, Kayla-Maree Tarantolo and Thomas Edwards carry out with a neat mixture of slapstick and narrative vitality, and I preferred the pair of Dukes, who mirror each other properly whereas offering extra than simply background presence. A number of the crowd scenes, significantly on the ball, appeared a bit of congested, which is odd when the corps de ballet is simply sixteen folks, although they could nonetheless be getting used to acting on the Edinburgh stage for his or her first evening there.
In fact, the central drawback in performing Cinderella is Prokofiev’s rating. Even for a composer who wasn’t above reverting to autopilot, his rating feels uninspired and insipid whenever you evaluate it to just about another classical ballet, not least his personal Romeo and Juliet. Scottish Ballet’s orchestra play it with as a lot panache as they’ll muster, and Wolfgang Heinz conducts it by making the rhythm the central component, however simply what number of lopsided waltzes are we anticipated to place up with in the middle of a night?!
The true enchantment right here is the visuals. Hampson’s manufacturing seems nice and is commendably simple to observe. Extra importantly, the gender thriller component makes it recent and stunning. How usually are you able to go and see a classical ballet and genuinely not know what you’ll get?
Simon Thompson
At Edinburgh Competition Theatre till 20 January, then touring to Aberdeen, Inverness and Newcastle till 10 February. For info click on right here.
