 |
   |
Birmingham Royal BalletJune 2007 Birmingham, Hippodrome by Norman Reynolds |
|||||||
|
As posted on our Postings pages... You can count on Sir Peter Wright's productions of the major classical ballets to hang together and make sense. This is especially the case with Act III of his version of Coppelia, seen last week at Birmingham with Birmingham Royal Ballet. Act III is the traditional celebratory set of divertissements, but they only make sense when seen as part of the festival of dedication for the new bell, which remains in a prominent position for most of the Act. So each divertissement marks an occasion when the bell would be used as a signal - dance of the hours, dawn, prayer, work, betrothal, the call to arms and peace. All takes place in the Duke's gardens and the priest acts as a master of ceremonies, giving a formal structure to the Act, which is lacking in some other versions of the ballet. 'Peace' is represented by the reconciliation of Franz and Swanilda, as they dance their pas de deux. Sir Peter adds a final touch, not to be revealed here, and the tissues are again called for, as at the end of Act II. In Act I Sir Peter wisely emphasises the significance of the ear of corn, Which I find rather obscure in other versions. A flower seller enters with a large basket of flowers. From here the mayor takes the ear of corn, which is larger than life size. As Swanilda and Franz then dance together she holds the ear of corn and shakes it and listens to it, without avail, so this episode is built into the dance quite effectively. At the Thursday matinee Franz was Joseph Caley, and I think this must have been his debut in the role. He fitted the part well, perhaps a trifle nervous at first, but soon getting into it. His dancing was fine, especially the third Act pas de deux and he romped round the stage in Franz's variation. Franz's entrance in Act I must be a difficult scene to master. It is all acting and mime, with Franz alone on stage apart from the doll Coppelia at a balcony and Swanilda looking on from the opposite window. He has to claim ownership of the stage, communicate with a puppet and relate to the audience, all at the same time. I think that with more experience Joseph Caley will learn how to take his own time over this. Just that extra milisecond so the audience sees him thinking what to do next, rather than just doing it, but so imperceptibly that the audience thinks how clever they are to notice it. He handled the butterfly scene well, with the right amount of display and I liked the way he ran off after Swanilda when the ear of corn finally rattled. So too the way he carried the ladder across the stage - a surprise for the audience. The star of the afternoon was Carol-Anne Millar as Swanilda. She had a constantly smiling sunny disposition (except when annoyed by Franz or fearful of Coppelius) and a fine rapport with the audience as well as marvellous dancing.
Dr. Coppelius was a much aged Rory Mackay - I must stop imitating that walk - played very convincingly and good fun.
 © Bill Cooper
David Morse was Dr. Coppelius and gave an inspired performance. From the first he communicated with the audience, expressing his pride in creating Swanilda. He slowly exaggerated the process of taking out his handkerchief and dropping the key, which could not have been missed by anybody at the back.
In general the evening seemed to go with more of a swing than the matinee, perhaps this was the audience factor. The 'Call to Arms' dance, led by James Grundy, was especially rousing.
|
||||||||
|
 |
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
