RB 'Manon' reviews Rojo in reviews Acosta in reviews recent RB reviews more Jeffery Taylor reviews Web version held on Ballet.co by kind permission of Jeffery Taylor and the Sunday Express Express Website

The harrowing tale by renegade monk Abbe Prevost, is set in the louche underbelly of 18 century Paris and centres on the love between idealistic young Des Grieux (Carlos Acosta) and teenaged Manon (Rojo) who, in tune with the times, is well on the road to the dubious title of Paris's top courtesan. "In the book", explains Rojo, "it's the man's story. He knows she's shallow but can't stop ruining himself for love of her. But I think it's the other way round. He betrays her. Des Grieux is selfish and cannot love her for what she is and constantly tries to change her."

Rojo is a dancer who takes no prisoners and her Manon is a young woman delighted to go to extremes for the man she loves, for her a strictly sensual emotion and incredible fun. Acosta's rugged good looks, with determined chin and spade-like hands supported by a world-class technique, give him a broad masculine presence the Sylvestre Stallone of ballet and the chemistry between the two in the bedroom love duets is a tangible reality. But like a true pro, furs and diamonds come first for Rojo's Manon, supplied by rich roué, Msr G.M. (William Tuckett). "She needs money to live and when you have that sort of basic need, nothing else matters", says Rojo. "Des Grieux can't understand that when she left him, she didn't stop loving him, she just needs the money. But he's a moralist. Mine is not the general view of Manon, but it is right."

"When she enters the local brothel on Msr G.M's arm, dripping with his finery, she cannot understand why Des Grieux does not share her triumph and wonders what the sulk is all about. His youthful ardour shakes her confidence in the only lifestyle she knows and she betrays her protector. Des Grieux's attitude in the end kills her", is how Rojo sees it. "If he had let her alone she would have happily been the first prostitute in Paris, but he kept forcing his views on her. Manon is a victim of his oppression."

In the final of the ballet's three acts, the convicted Manon, accompanied by her lover, arrives at a Louisiana penal colony, and it is in her abject breakdown that Rojo takes the story into another league. Head shorn and dressed in rags, she falteringly moves in a heartbreaking echo of former glory days; in reality she is a confused baby in Des Grieux's still loving arms. A gross sex attack by a slobbering Gaoler (Jose Maria Tirado) completes Manon's spiritual and physical destruction, leaving her desperately grateful for Des Grieux's mere presence. Haunted by ghosts of what might have been, she runs out of what life she has left and dies in the arms of the man who engineered her gruesome downfall.

The late Kenneth MacMillan's genius was his ability to realise on stage through movement the infinite complexities of human relationships. Watching Rojo and Acosta illuminate the eternal contradictions of love was like seeing a painting by Rembrandt come suddenly to life. MacMillan would have been very, very proud.