Cruel Garden - Ross Stretton’s troubled year at the Royal Ballet David Drew, RB Principal, on Stretton's leaving RB - notes for a new Artistic Director RB - The AD Quest Postings coverage of Ross Stretton's Leaving RB. Includes links to all the news, analysis and comment. Have your say too...

John Wilson: We start with the news that the revolving door at the Royal Opera House, having been still for a couple of years, has started spinning again. Ross Stretton, the Australian choreographer (sic), brought into lead and modernise the Royal Ballet has quit just weeks after reports that his directorial style was upsetting dancers. In a written statement, Stretton says he 'wants to develop the future of ballet', but doesn't explain why he couldn't do that in Covent Garden. On this programme recently we reported that the contentious casting decisions by Stretton had led to calls from dancers for a vote of no confidence in their artistic director. A short while ago, I asked the Royal Opera House Chairman, Sir Colin Southgate, for his version of events.

Sir Colin Southgate: There's a lot of difference between a classical company and a non-classical company. I mean a lot of the ballet that we put on, which we are renowned for, as other ballet companies in the world are renowned for, are the classical productions which have been developed over the last thirty, forty, fifty years.

But he knew what sort of company you were, when he joined?

I suppose he did, but the answer to that is that, you know, he came here obviously with that knowledge but, you know, he thought he could move the thing beyond that at a faster pace, than he could. Therefore that's not really satisfactory as far as he's concerned...

Just as he knew what sort of ballet company you were, you knew what sort of ballet choreographer (sic) he was?

"We knew his background very well. We obviously investigated his background very well" Sir Colin Southgate

Absolutely true. We knew his background very well. We obviously investigated his background very well.

So has he resigned, or has he been sacked?

He's resigned.

He hasn't been sacked? My understanding is that this isn't just about artistic issues?

Really? The ballet world is full of gossip.

It's not just gossip.

As far as I am concerned, he has resigned and he has gone with good grace and from both sides.

My understanding is that he had a volatile relationship, not only with the dancers, but with senior managers, sponsors and other people connected with the ballet.

No. I don't think he had ---- if you think artistic people don't have volatile relationships, you had better check around a bit more. Everybody has some fairly hot relationships. That's what the artistic world is all about. It was no worse or better than anyone else.

But it is true to say, isn't it, that several weeks ago the ballet dancers themselves were pressing for a vote of no confidence in him, and their union advised them against it. That is true isn't it?

Yea - the ballet world always are pressing for different things. At the end of the season, they had been on a six week tour, they had been absolutely exhausted, they'd worked very hard and they were interested in a different method of scheduling, which, in fact, we have implemented and it has got nothing whatsoever to do with Ross Stretton's departure.

Was it a mistake to employ him?

Was it a mistake? The people we interviewed in detail, I mean, he was definitely, in the opinion of the interview

"The ballet world does not actually, you know, produce managers automatically. The artistic world doesn't do that" Sir Colin Southgate

panel, a man with a lot of the right qualities. The ballet world does not actually, you know, produce managers automatically. The artistic world doesn't do that. You have to be therefore conscious that some of these things don't work out as well as you would like them to work out.

You say it's with deep regret that you accept his resignation, but it must also be with deep regret that you employed him in the first place ?

(Laughter) Well, I'm sure you will read into it what you would like, but as far as I'm concerned, the employment of

"...it's just one of those things that hasn't worked out" Sir Colin Southgate

Ross Stretton was handled carefully. We did everything we needed to do to check it out. And, you know, it's just one of those things that hasn't worked out.

Just to get to the core of this issue? What is the main reason he has gone?

I've just given you that. He has resigned, because he doesn't actually enjoy the mixture of the classical work with his objectives for taking ballet forward.

Right, so it's an artistic reason primarily?

Artistic reasons - from his point of view.

Sir Colin Southgate, Chairman of the Royal Opera House. I'm joined now by Ismene Brown, the dance critic for the Telegraph. This is a sudden departure, but not entirely unexpected is it?

Ismene Brown: Not unexpected at all. This is an expected resignation and I think that it's been

"He was really the wrong man for the job and I think Sir Colin Southgate and the board would be right to sound very sheepish" Ismene Brown

expected for the last couple of months. Really, the rumours of increasing dissatisfaction among the dancers, the heavy criticism, really, of Ross Stretton's artistic approach, have really combined to make it impossible for him to stay on. He was really the wrong man for the job and I think Sir Colin Southgate and the board would be right to sound very sheepish. Because, when he was appointed, he was appointed precisely because he knew almost nothing about the company and they thought this would be valuable - to have a fresh eye from the outside world.

What do you make of Sir Colin's point there that, in a way, his approach was wrong: that the Royal Ballet was almost too classical for him to handle?

I don't buy that, I'm afraid. The thing is that Stretton was actually appointed on the grounds of being a moderniser. What has really gone wrong is that he hasn't proved a moderniser. He has actually shrunk the opportunities for new work in the company, and vastly increased the runs of classics. He has also further reduced the runs of programmes, the Royal Ballet has been doing. Even under his predecessor, Sir Anthony Dowell, who was thought of as conservative, the

"What has really gone wrong is that he hasn't proved a moderniser" Ismene Brown

number of programmes was fourteen to fifteen a year. This year there are just ten; as they get nearly £10 million a year in subsidy, that represents a million pounds spent for every first night that you see. Now I think that a lot of people would feel that wasn't particularly good value for money. Another problem, I think, is that Stretton himself didn't realise that he could have been a great deal more ambitious than he was. It isn't that the Royal Ballet is a stagnant classical company with no repertory. The point is that there is a large repertory that it could draw from, that it hasn't done, and it is very adventurous repertory that Anthony Dowell had been neglecting. There is every good reason for bringing in ballets from outside.

There has been recent calm at the Opera House, does this move signal new chaos?

I think it does in that it has shown, above all, that the board proved itself quite inadequate at appointing the right person for the job. One has got to hope that they look at themselves very very carefully, because Ross Stretton's

"Ross Stretton's failure is their failure" Ismene Brown on the board that apppointed Stretton

failure is their failure. It comes down to their doorstep. They have got to choose the next man right. And it is absolutely essential in a ballet company - the flame of a ballet company is difficult to maintain; it is a delicate and fragical thing and the next person has to be chosen because he or she has to understand what matters inside the company, what makes it unique in the world, not try to turn it into a sort of internationalised all-purpose company the way Stretton did.

Ismene Brown, thank you very much