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Royal BalletFebruary 2008 London, Covent Garden by Paul N |
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As posted on our Postings pages... I was greatly looking forward to Different Drummer, with its intense, extreme characters in a powerful, deeply disturbing story, and its various themes of immorality. Given the MacMillan treatment, surely this would be something to hit me full in the face and shake me to the core. Sadly, it barely penetrated the surface. The experience became fragmented into sedate visual observation and musical appreciation. The visual aspect was much occupied by reading the on-stage events, matching these with the story and solving the puzzle. Sure, there are the dance elements, but this is not Chroma or Rite of Spring even: the crucial ingredient here has to be emotional involvement – instead, my experience was one of emotional detachment. Now that’s fine when it comes to the captain, the doctor and the drum major, who are all one-dimensional characters. But, notwithstanding Edward Watson’s efforts, and I don’t think he nailed this one, Woyzeck himself also failed to come alive and make me pity his humiliation or feel any sense of social or moral indignation on his behalf. The multi-faceted character was Marie and she was superbly played by Leanne Benjamin, doing as much as she possibly could to wring something out of this piece. But powerful scenes like her rape/betrayal scene and her murder still seemed matter-of-fact. The choice of Verklaerte Nacht seems very strange, because this sublime music just does not match the mood of the story and to my mind is counter productive. We seem to have two separate things going on here that just do not match and are disconnected.
I was pleased to find that Chroma did live up to my expectations and greatly enjoyed it again. The power and rhythms of the opening and closing numbers are superb. The final number (Hovercraft) is a marvel and you hardly know where to look – you can take your pick, even choosing those dancers who are standing still, waiting for them to start, and not be disappointed. The set and lighting are indeed everything that is needed here.
 © John Ross
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