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![]() April 2009 Hull, New Theatre by Claire S |
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As posted on our Postings pages... A year or two ago my wish-list for NBT revivals was Midsummer Night's Dream and Wuthering Heights, so I've been spoiled this season. I think WH is one of David Nixon's biggest achievements during his tenure at NBT. Just as Romeo & Juliet and A Christmas Carol are still essential parts of the company's repertoire, I suspect WH will be entertaining audiences for many years. Dance seems the perfect medium for a story of obsessive, destructive love and this production doesn't disappoint. For a start it has a clear, accessible narrative, very effective use of a dance vocabulary for each of the characters, a stunning and evocative set as well as a lush, romantic score by Claude Michel Schonberg. It really is staged so well - the wedding scenes especially effective (heathcliff's arrival always has a real frisson that reminds me of Adam Cooper's arrival at the ball in the second act of MAtthew Bourne's Swan Lake...) And there's a new generation of dancers to tackle what must be two of the best roles in dance drama. At Thursday's matinee in Hull Georgina May danced Cathy with the aura and technique of a principal dancer. And Tobias Batley was a revelation to me as Heathcliff. He gavesuch a strong, dramatic performance that I can't believe he's somehow slipped under my radaro so far. Heathcliff's seduction (if we can call it that) of Isabella was rutal but compelling.... I wonder what questions the teachers in the school party in the stalls had on the bus back to Bridlington..... How marvellous to see a young British dancer have the chance to perform such a challenging ![]() © John Ross
Another excellent production in what's a brilliant season. A nice innovation in the programme too, with great group pictures of the company instead of the usual mugshots.
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