Stuttgart 'Edward II' reviews 'Edward II' reviews Vogel in reviews Reilly in reviews recent Stuttgart reviews Angela reviews

The last premiere of the season in Stuttgart was the revival of David Bintley's "Edward II", a full-length story ballet he created for Stuttgart in 1995. Set to a film-like, not very modern score by John McCabe, the action takes place in sinister, "rusty" sets by Peter Davison. Bintley follows Christopher Marlowe's play quite closely: King Edward II is in love with young Gaveston who for that reason is killed by the barons. Edward's wife Isabella, sad and despaired because her husband rejects her, turns into a revengeful and cruel queen scheming with her lover Mortimer for Edward's defeat. Mortimer succeeds to get Edward killed, but when Edward's young son enters the throne, he throws his mother in jail.

The main events in Bintley's choreography are the beautiful pas de deux for Edward and Gaveston, a dramatic pas de trois for them with Isabella, and a very difficult solo for the queen when she leads the French army against her husband. The acting scenes offer great possibilities for the leading men, including Mortimer. But there are too many "empty" scenes that only serve for decoration, the worst of them being a court dance in Paris. The barons and earls around Mortimer tend to look a little silly because they have to jump and dance on a large, moveable table in black leather suits and with long, shaggy hair – something between a horror movie and the Hell's Angels (the costumes were designed by Jasper Conran). A small troupe of street theatre actors is trying to provide some comic relief, but they can't offer any more than blunt jokes.

I personally don't mind the cruel scenes, when for example Edward is hugging a bloody sack with Gaveston's head in it, banging it on the walls, or Edwards death (he is impaled in a very cruel way). To people who are used to the "Swan Lake" type of romantic story ballets, this one may cause an upset stomach. Stuttgart audiences never really loved this ballet like they love Cranko's story ballets – maybe because it's a different way of story-telling: more MacMillan than Cranko, more "English tradition" than from the heart. The reviews for the revival were more mixed than they were seven years ago, when everybody was happy about – finally! – a new full-length ballet. But the eight performances in July were mostly sold out (as almost all ballet performances in Stuttgart are).

Many of the original cast of "Edward II" went to Birmingham later on: Wolfgang Stollwitzer (the first Edward), Sabrina Lenzi (first Isabella), Krzysztof Nowogrodzki and Silvia Jimenez. Today, only four or five dancers of the company were left from the time when the ballet was created, the rest of Reid Anderson's company is still very young. Roland Vogel, who danced the title role in the revival, was second cast for Gaveston in 1995. Rather a noble dancer with clear, straight lines than a great actor, Vogel found a way of portraying the unfortunate king with dignity and grace, but in the end without really deep emotions. Ivan Gil Ortega danced Gaveston flirtatious and arrogant, a bit like a joker. And what a surprise to see that Sue Jin Kang, a beloved Tatiana and Juliet, can be so hard and almost cold – she seemed to enjoy this chance to be a very different woman, and her dancing was immaculate.

The second cast for Edward and Gaveston were Friedemann Vogel, recently winner of the Erik Bruhn prize and Stuttgart's upcoming new star, and Canadian Jason Reilly. They are both young dancers of an excellent technique and beautiful classical lines, but both are still searching for the right way to express everything they want to put in the character. Alicia Amatriain, queen Isabella in this cast, has a body of sensational qualities with super-high extensions and incredible flexibility. But her acting was almost all the time over the top and, strangely enough, she was not strong enough to get through her difficult solo. Surely she is a huge talent, probably the most promising girl in the company, but she is in great danger of rising too young too far.

The third cast, definitely the one to watch, was quite different: no beautiful dancing or intelligently thought-out portraits, but pure, breathless drama. Which, in the end, is the only thing that makes this ballet really leave an impact. Bridget Breiner was a queen of utmost dedication, following her way from grieving young girl to hate-driven warrior with true royal dignity. As danced by Filip Barankiewicz, Gaveston sometimes seemed like a wild animal – fascinating and a bit demonic, luring Edward away from the formality and coldness of the court. The title role received a whole range of new emotions - deep passion, cynical arrogance and an overall Hamlet-like melancholy - from RBS-trained Douglas Lee, a dancer of not so much technical abilities but supreme acting quality, or let's put it this way: Stuttgart's Adam Cooper. Whoever decided not to accept him for the Royal Ballet in 1996: a heartfelt thank you from over here. This is exactly the dramatic dance that Stuttgart adores since the times of Marcia Haydée