Maina Gielgud Diary

Setting a Giselle (2)

Thursday 15th May

We got there, unimaginable as it seemed – five performances in Mulhouse have come and gone, and three casts performed – and today I am meeting with the company in Strasbourg for one placing and stage dress rehearsal in the beautiful Opera House.

I was here already yesterday to supervise the placing of the set on this much smaller stage. A joy in fact, since, although smaller, the atmosphere is that of a traditional theatre, and it just feels so right for Giselle. There was not much trouble placing the elements of the set either – all proportionately seem to fit into place. It will be different with the dancers today, as some (especially Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis with all her diagonals of grand jetes), will find it hard to reduce the scale..

But to go back...

Second to last week before the premiere
Lighting and wili costumes:

I spent all day in the theatre for most of those two weeks – from around 8.30 am till past 11pm – it would almost have been easier to bed down there too!

The mornings were spent with Pascal Merat and Jean-Marc Puissant, lighting – although since the set was not entirely ready, and the all important wili tutus had not arrived, this was prepared without seeing bodies or costumes on stage, (more usually in companies, since lighting does often have to be prepared without the dancers and their costumes, students or extras are hired to stand and move around while the lighting states are looked at. – otherwise one can get real surprises with lighting states that look wonderful on “empty” sets, suddenly with people on stage, one cannot see them, or they are a strange colour, or only the set looks good!), In fact as mentioned previously, Bertrand, the director helped as the one stand in –practice tutu in hand – and a whitewashed hand, which I had made up, since the eerie colour of the skin for 2nd act wili/ghosts is all important!

Actually on that Thursday morning, approximately half of the tutus did arrive – bodices without any decoration, made for one dancer - and skirts for another. Most needed alteration (dancers were grabbed to try on between class and rehearsals, or whenever any passed by), and all of them would have to be cut to the length agreed between Jean-Marc and I. As I had suspected for a few days, apart from Giselle’s which was white, and Myrtha’s one, slightly silvery grey underskirt and underbodice – all the rest of the tutus were those made with a greenish underbodice and light greenish underskirt – not just for the two lead wilis as we had asked, but for the entire corps as well…..

Maina Gielgud reahearsing Giselle
Photograph D. Soyer ©

All the ladies were needed, to put the costumes on in the lighting state we had guessed at, to see what the greenish tint looked like with a full cast. We lost a good 20 minutes in the process – since they could not be danced in - the length had not been cut, and they trailed onto their feet – but at least we knew – that the green underskirts had to go (which Jean-Marc started doing there and then – and next morning).

On Thursday evening the costumes were whisked away to Strasbourg for this and other rather major alterations (bodices that would not do up for instance!) . We hoped the other half which had not yet turned up, would arrive Friday – which they did, late morning. So there was no chance of the dancers wearing them so that they could get used to them (apart from Giselle’s and Myrtha’s, which the extremely nice and helpful dresser Brigitte, managed to get done there and then),– and so that we could see what they and the all important atmospheric lighting for 2nd act would look like…

Orchestra rehearsals

The previous Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, there had been orchestral rehearsals, fortunately in a studio in the same premises as the theatre. So some of the dancers and I (dividing myself between these and the lighting) were able to go and listen. Since the conductor has not got much experience of conducting ballet, I was anxious for us to have an idea of tempi and general feeling he would generate, so that we could adapt to him as much as possible. It is often incredibly difficult for a conductor to understand the subtle differences in tempi which are meant, when we say “too slow” or “too fast”. The famous Thomas Beecham line came to mind a lot, which my great friend James Slater always used to quote: “how do you want it tonight – too fast or too slow?”! (Mark Pace tells me he always uses this story to get the good will of conductors – and it works!)

It was quite fascinating to watch and listen to these rehearsals. Cyril Diederich rehearsed the musicians really thoroughly, using only part of the orchestration at times, to make a section quite clear, before putting them together, and sometimes slowing down enormously to make sure it was sounding exactly as he wanted. This is not always done as thoroughly, especially with music that is considered quite easy to play. In fact I felt that the process Cyril used, was very similar to that of dancers’ rehearsals when they are thoroughly coached, with the corps too being worked on individually. I realized that Cyril was getting to know the score intimately in this way, and that this should be helpful - not knowing the names of steps in the ballet, the better he knew the music for the different scenes, the easier it would be to identify and discuss any problematic tempi.

Stage rehearsals

In the afternoons and evenings up until Friday, we had full calls on stage, each time with a little more lighting, and one or two more elements of the set on stage – or less, as some had to be taken back to Strasbourg for revising, repainting or whatever. The tree behind the house finally arrived, and looked magnificent, although Giselle’s friends had to find a reasonable way to make an entrance from behind it.. The leaves and flowers which were meant to overgrow Hilarion’s cottage were still not forthcoming, but painters were starting to work on getting the tables, stools and benches less like something from Ikea! We were also starting to discover what would or would not be appearing, and what compromises we would need to look at in terms of scenery/props. In relation to costumes, this was not going to be clear until – the day of the premiere!

Though all this, Jean-Marc was terrific. He took all on board like the real pro that he is, and I never heard him lose his temper – he just dealt hands on with things as they appeared or didn’t. Manufacturing necklaces, headdresses, decorations for costumes, adjusting props, and discussing hairstyles and wigs always calmly and to the point. He dealt with me in the same way (!) – I am very particular about the way the stage and dancers look – and have rather definite ideas about what I don’t like, which I am very honest about, but this could lead to offended designers! It really was great having this experience and working together on this production. We had some good laughs as well as some good moans! And it was amazing to see his concept leap from model to stage, some parts looked even better in reality, while others which looked important on the model or costume designs, were less important on stage. Personally I never trust a model – each theatre is different, and highlights other aspects of a concept.

On Friday afternoon and evening we had the first rehearsals with orchestra and dancers together on stage, in the afternoon with the first cast, the evening with the second. Cyril, the conductor asked me to sit behind him, so that I could give him feedback in case of problems. I did this in the afternoon, which was quite successful – but in the evening, as we had quite a few of the costumes of first act, and more lighting states had been put in the computer, I really needed to look at these from more distance. However he asked me to give him feedback by going through the score for an hour before the evening rehearsal, and in fact the first act went smoothly after that, but in the second there were still important parts which were hard for him to understand. At the end of the evening rehearsal the principals and I tried to explain what was needed. It was hard, as he was adamant that the dancers should not follow him – he would follow the Giselles as they piqueed their arabesques! Later I discovered that the reason one lift was always “out” was that he was expecting the pique on one accent, and the dancers on another… With conductors who are used to working with dancers on classical ballets, it is the norm for the dancers to follow the music, with the most helpful conductors (ah Jack Lanchbery…!) – watching out for perhaps three or four key moments in an act when the dancers could need extra help. But in that case, the most seasoned conductor, will have been conducting the accompanist at rehearsals for at least the last week or two in the studio, and with each cast, so that it is a real partnering situation between the conductor and the dancers. Interestingly a number of Russian conductors use the technique of the music following the dancers, with, to our ears/eyes, rather mixed results – often radical changes of tempi which can rather slaughter the musical intention. I think conductors not used to dance tend to dislike it because they (wrongly) believe that it is indispensable to do this. So they either do so unwillingly, thinking they are helpful, or go to the other extreme altogether, and conduct with their head in the score, which can have equally disastrous results!

Jean-Marc and I had fun before act 1 rehearsals, placing props, and small elements of scenery , especially for the first act. It was nice, and helpful, that no-one stopped us (in fact sometimes we were even helped) moving benches, tables, stools, “wine” barrels and flower beds around. In some theatres the union rules would not allow this in any circumstances, none but the designated stage staff would be allowed, making for a huge amount of wasted time. Eric the props master, was most helpful, and had by now worked out how to make a working marguerite, and he was on the road to finding a way to whisk the veil off Giselle after her 2nd act entrance, without it looking funny!

Ah veils – that was another story…:

Veils and sleeves and wings – and the black cloak for Albrecht and his act 2 grey tights

Way back in September, Bertrand and I had asked to have, ready to use during the studio rehearsal time, the veils for the wilis, and the long black cloak for Albrecht’s 2nd act entrance,.

Handling the cloak is an art in itself ( Serge Bereznoi, ballet master in Boston when I staged Giselle there, was a past master of making the cloak truly look like a second skin, and way of conveying Albrecht’s remorse through the shape of the silhouette when he first walks into the forest). Each cloak has different proportions, and of course the dancers interpreting the role are not all the same height. It is difficult too to take it off in a way which looks natural, after having found Giselle’s tomb, , and to leave it where it will not get in the way of the dancing, and also look (accidentally on purpose) good in the set, while being convenient for Albrecht to pick up for his final moments after Giselle has gone back into her tomb.

In fact for the rehearsal period, only a short old dummy cloak was forthcoming – and after repeated requests were ignored, a stunning mega sized black velvet cloak with purple lining, was found from a previous production. Far too voluminous and heavy for this staging, even to be really useful for rehearsals, it did serve us a little, as it gave some ideas on how to manage a larger one.

A day or so before stage rehearsals started, at a fitting, a cloak of sorts did turn up – not nearly wide enough – … telephone calls to Strasbourg – not enough material had been bought – it would not be possible to get any more that matched, and there was no money for it anyway. In panic, waking up at 4am, I tried to see whether I could order from Whaleys over the Internet, and would it arrive in time? Bertrand, bless him, insisted, and two days before the premiere, appeared a correct sized cloak, into which had been added some more material, not exactly the same, but I admit, one could not see this from the front.

But finally of course we found ourselves in the situation we had tried to avoid – taking up valuable stage time on the last day with the three Albrechts trying to work out how to manage and lay it near the tomb….

The tights for Albrecht appeared for the Friday’s orchestral rehearsal – in a thick shiny lycra – very mauve… New ones would be found and dyed we were told… I felt it better to err on the not being too trusting side: I rang up the one ballet shop in Mulhouse – no dull men’s tights in grey or even in white (to dye). I went anyway – and discovered some large size woman’s allover tights in dull white – maybe they would be the right size (they were!) – and bought some grey dye just in case. In the event, some did turn up for the final dress rehearsal, too thick, but an OK colour and wearable. Still better ready for all eventualities..

Getting the veils was another saga. Stage rehearsals started, and still despite multiple pleas and promises that material had been ordered, none were forthcoming. A real problem, as in my version, the corps and lead wilis dance with them for the beginning of the first dance. They are not easy to handle as one cannot see very well through them making it difficult to stay in line, while keeping them on straight requires the strategic placing of a single pin (for very quick taking off). A certain technique is required also for keeping one’s arms inside the tulle also! One morning, I decided to try my luck at TOTO’s material shop near my Hotel – perhaps they would have a little white tulle of the necessary fineness, with which the wilis could take turns practicing in the light. It was my lucky day, they had some, so I bought about 8 wilis worth, and took them to the theatre. Luckily they only needed the corners to be rounded up, and the dimensions were right – ouf! A few were tried, and amid groans and complaints that they were unmanageable (par for the course, this always happens the first few times with any company), I decided to go back to TOTO’s in the afternoon and see whether I could get the lot. After I had mucked up by getting the shop to cut the wrong way, and ended up with some far too narrow strips – I had to go back to the shop yet again, and oh miracle, there was just exactly enough - and not one centimetre more! So that problem was solved – and just as well, as the ones ordered by the wardrobe arrived a day before the dress rehearsal – and the material was not as good!

Other challenges were sleeves and wings. Jean-Marc had designed some pretty sleeves, and wings for the wilis. None were forthcoming till some tubular forms in rather stiff material arrived. We tried various possibilities for the sleeves, none any good. I decided that we needed to show something like what we wanted and look at it on stage – so with the material which had been mistakenly cut (definitely my fault this one), too narrow for the veils, I cut out a bit (neither seamstress nor housewife in any way am I, I hasten to add!), put an elastic round it, and asked the Giselle of that night to put it on, so we could see whether the shape and material might work in the light. It worked rather well )and I was very proud of myself), and lo and behold was used as a model, and all the wilis got their sleeves on the first night!

There was no more time to make wings, so Jean-Marc was offered a previous version of La Sylphide’s sylphs’ wings. They would have to do, and ended up looking fine after he had managed to get the wardrobe to discard the butterfly look by some cutting and reshaping.

The last week: premiere on Friday:

Yes, it sounded like a lot of time – but…

After the Friday orchestral rehearsals, all the existing costumes disappeared to Strasbourg, not to be seen again till Tuesday evening’s “La Colonel” (as the pre-dress rehearsal is called in France, as dress rehearsal is “La Generale).

The previous Saturday, there had been a scheduled “public rehearsal”, without set, lighting or costumes, so I used it to work on corrections of both first and second cast of the second act only. Quite useful, although far from the priority at that point – which clearly was lighting, conducting and costumes.. It was only a short rehearsal and then we had to leave the theatre as it was closing…

The Monday of the last week, we also had a half day rehearsal, but in the studios, as the theatre was also closed…

Tuesday afternoon, the third cast got a chance of rehearsing on stage – and to the tape that they would use for the educational performance the following Monday. We had had a lot of difficulty finding a recording which had the right tempi, until emailed David McAllister at The Australian Ballet, to ask if we could use the one which the Dancers Company (graduate company of The Australian Ballet School) has used. Angela Embleton, the most organized and efficient person I know, was her usual helpful self – had the tapes copied to Mini-disc, and they were sent to us by DHL within a day! So at least we had no worries there. No costumes were available for this rehearsal, and in any case all the Giselles had to wear the one costume, whether they were doing Lead Wilis or Giselle – the helpful wardrobe mistress, Brigitte later had the lovely job of changing the decoration on them, for each performance! There had been little time for separate rehearsals for this third cast, and now too, there was only time for a run through – still good for them to get the feel of the stage (there are many companies where even the second cast simply do not get on stage before the performance at all!)

In the evening, the “Colonel” in fact still lacked costumes, the wili tutus had no decoration etc…

There were the usual difficulties with the second act lighting (usual in every company I have known) – so difficult to get the right mood, still see Albrecht’s face, and keep all the wilis looking ghost like and not sylph like, while being also able to see Giselle’s expression… We ended up only able to use two follow spots, as the one from the bridge would simply have made dark shadows on the faces. So Myrtha didn’t have one after Giselle and Albrecht had made their entrance, and the “special” on her in her “corner” was pretty ineffectual.. Shannon and Alex were quite beautiful, as were the rest of the cast, with only the normal teething problems one would expect in the dancing quarters: some wili bits to fix, as there were shifting casts of the corps due to the three principal cast, which necessitated first cast going on in the corps. The stage size in Mulhouse is very very large, and although deep as well, somehow the atmosphere easily got dispersed, especially in the full company scenes.

Everything seemed to need to be further downstage, the peasants and friends needed to surround the principals more, but this clearly felt odd to the dancers. Later in Strasbourg, in the old proscenium Opera House, all these scenes just fell perfectly into place, the only reminder needed – the exact opposite of Mulhouse – was for the action to take place further back!

Stephanie Madec and Sylvain Bourel in Giselle
Photograph Jean-Luc Tanghe ©

On this same Tuesday, Jean-Marc was shown the only “decoration” now available for the wili costumes – a collection of different sized leaves, not having much at all to do with that on his costume designs. The following day, when the costumes arrived, once more back from Strasbourg – a few minutes before the curtain went up on the Dress Rehearsal, Jean-Marc and I quickly looked at the decoration – the leaves had been stuck onto the wili bodices, more or less at random – and not at all to either of our taste…. We decided that there was no time to do anything, and it would be best to look at them on stage – which we did -- and then decide what to do at the end of the dress rehearsal,

I was already to start unpicking the stuck leaves – but Jean-Marc sensibly said, let’s wait till Friday, and then we have all day to do it properly. There were some white leaves which didn’t show too much, some grey, some sequined or pearled, and some, for Myrtha black. The headdress for Myrtha turned up and was beautiful although a little big, but that was easily fixed by Jean-Marc, with a pair of tweezers and some pulling and pushing.

The dress rehearsal on Wednesday 30th April took place in the afternoon, and the theatre closed immediately after – as it was 1st May holiday the next day, and everything stops hours early the day before a holiday in France!

That Thursday was supposed to be a holiday for everyone, but the dancers had asked to work. So we worked through the notes, and rehearsed alternative casts for a half day – but of course the theatre was shut, so this was back in the studios. It was quite useful however, and not at all a bad thing for the second cast to take it easy before their first performance the following day.

First night

The day of the first night, we had some corrections to do on stage in the afternoon – lighting in the morning, and all the unsticking and resticking of leaves on the wili costumes. It was actually rather fun. Jean-Marc did most of it, but I did a little – and we were quite pleased with the result, although we would not see it on stage of course until the first night itself.

I usually have a “feeling” of how a first night will go – and this time I was not mistaken in it. I felt that a “miracle” could happen – enough attention and work had gone into all areas, so that with luck on our side, it all could come together, and – apart from those reading this diary(!), the audience would not have an inkling of the difficulties that had been resolved – or masked… And in fact that is what happened. The first night and all subsequent performances in Mulhouse were excellent in most regards – with the odd problem arising of course (the moon reappearing after dawn at the end of the second act for instance!), but not any that destroyed the public’s enjoyment…

All the casts were outstanding, and only got better by the performance.

And then came Strasbourg
Strike, get-in and lighting

Ah Strasbourg – I will remember always… I had been in Switzerland helping my mother to move into a new apartment, and was due to arrive in Strasbourg on the Tuesday – opening night Friday- (Bertrand was in Korea), to supervise the “planting” of the trees and house – basically the get-in to the Opera House stage. About 2/3 of the size of Mulhouse, we had planned on paring down on the size of the house and some elements of the set and props.

But – Tuesday there was a strike in France, so I was told that no-one knew whether some or all of the stage staff would be working or not – nor was it sure that I could get to Strasbourg by train. Well to sum up – a day was lost. I only got to look at the set on the afternoon of the Wednesday. I pared down as much as possible, so that there would be room for the principals to dance while still maintaining the proportions of Jean-Marc’s design as much as possible. Neither Jean-Marc nor Pascal had been asked to supervise the staging, perhaps because there was so little time scheduled ( I later heard that there are always these problems – minus the strike – with the move of programs from Mulhouse to Strasbourg – and that the first night in Strasbourg tends to look like a not very good dress rehearsal, the second being more like it!).

Well that is precisely what happened. On the Thursday afternoon, I was asked to come and look at the lighting – which had been programmed in on the computer as it was in Mulhouse, although lamps had supposedly been focused according to the Strasbourg stage. We only had time to look at the second act, while the first act was only shown to me while we rehearsed that night. I talked though the considerable problems of act 1 during the rehearsal – enormous spill of light on Hilarion’s cottage, and on a big strip of the forestage - and everything else looked totally flat. Yes, I was told this would be fixed. The second act too now looked gloomy, and we tried during the act to change the intensity of the projectors and follow spots, as well as the colours ( the usual response, that we couldn’t use the colour we needed because they had to be coloured differently for the first act – ah yes, perhaps we could change them in the interval… perhaps….)

Nervous of having too much light and destroying the atmosphere completely, I went with what I thought was too little, but not disastrously so. Next morning, there was supposed to be some time for light corrections, but at 9.30am when I went in, I was told no more would be done on Giselle. As we were doing corrections/rehearsal of second act in the afternoon, I could however look at lighting for that act at the same time. For the first act - no chance..

At the afternoon call, they called the lighting states, but there were no follow spot operators, although a kind man did go up so that we could have another look at colours – and I opted for a darker blue, which seemed to give a ghostly glow to Giselle at a certain intensity –. As for Albrecht, we had agreed the night before, that he should not have any colour in his follow spot, although it would be at a low intensity, and lower when he is with Giselle, so there is no spill… The message was to be passed on to the follow spot operators that night…

There was no rehearsal with the orchestra at all, and we did not see the conductor until the performance.

First night (and second) in Strasbourg:

Well this time I did not have a good feeling about the first night – on the contrary I felt that a “miracle” could not happen – the ingredients were not there… And voila – so it was…

Yet the dancers, and Shannon and Alex particularly (we rotated first cast in the different cities), surpassed themselves – as did the whole company. It was incredibly annoying, as had the lighting been as it should have, this would have been a truly wonderful performance both as far as interpretation and dancing. As it was, nothing in the first act had been corrected, which meant that Jean-Marc’s extraordinary trees and the rest of the set, looked like – a set – and all the dancers who were wonderfully involved in the action (and Shannon’s mad scene never fails to move everyone around, audience and those on stage), seemed two dimensional – and even a total layman would have found the lighting “odd”. The second act was better, and a big success, although Albrecht’s follow spot had also become dark blue, which meant that we hardly could see him at all, even during his all important entrance, and at the end of the ballet.

Bertrand had arrived from Korea the night before. I told him of my problems, and he saw for himself. As next day there was an afternoon rehearsal for the cast of that evening, and it was possible to have the lighting states for it, we agreed to let Claude, the ballet mistress look after the dancers, and we would stay with the deputy lighting man (the one I had been previously dealing with had a day off).

As it happened Thierry was enormously helpful, and quite quickly the first act lighting was fixed.

Shannon Lilly and Xavier Gobin rehearsing with Maina Gielgud
Photograph D. Soyer ©

For act 2, again no follow spot operators would be available, but I was determined to get it to look better, and with the most helpful Thierry taking me up to the fifth balcony (I felt a little giddy looking down!), and showing me how to work the follow spot, I stayed up there most of the act, trying out colours and intensitys on Albrecht Hilarion, Myrtha and Giselle, while shouting down to Bertrand who was two floors down on third balcony were the lighting box was “ what do you think of this?” (I couldn’t see properly from up there – too high) – “Try another colour” –“higher” – “lower”, “better – “that’s great” etc etc…

It was certainly a new and fun experience to be behind a follow spot, and I can’t say I envy those who work them – so much responsibility!

I hardly looked at the dancers at all from the ballet point of view, but knew they would be doing well anyway, and they were in good hands with Claude who has done a great job with the second act corps throughout. I could just give the odd obvious placing notes here and there.

RELIEF – at the second performance, not only were Steph and Sylvain dancing better than ever (and really looking at home in their roles – the improvement in Sylvain’s interpretation was particularly noticeable – suddenly he just let go, and as I had hoped, approached the role of Albrecht like he would a contemporary role and ballet, and so it became his interpretation, and it was multi-faceted.

On the way to Colmar

Now, I am literally in the train, on my way to Colmar, and a stage apparently half the size of Strasbourg! They rehearsed yesterday, having cut down to 12 wilis from 16, and 8 peasants for first act. I imagine it will be pretty basic lighting.

We have lighting rehearsal at 2pm, then the company come in for a placing and more or less dress rehearsal after. Colmar is only about twenty minutes by car from Mulhouse, so we will to and fro for the next three days. The dancers will do class in the studio in Mulhouse before going to Colmar.

More to come on the last lap of Ballet du Rhin’s Giselle this season….

Colmar rehearsals and last performances of the season

A tiny but most sympathetic stage, the set cut down to a minimum, and most of the attention going to the lighting adaptation, led to a really gorgeous performance on the first night Saturday. It was Stephanie and Sylvain again, and they were better than ever, despite the small stage. Dorothee’s Myrtha also having developed tremendously- and she almost had to jump backwards on each grand jete!

At the matinee performance, Shannon and Alex danced and interpreted beautifully. The performance was marred by some players in the orchestra, who decided that the last performance “joke” of playing the 4 o’clock striking of the clock out of tune, was funny, and there and then split their sides laughing out loud in full hearing of the audience….

And so ended the tale of Giselle in Colmar… Not a good note to end with (no pun intended)

Finale

Touring dates are in the pipeline for Ballet du Rhin’s Giselle over the next couple of seasons. I very much hope that these will come to fruition, as it is so important for dancers to have the opportunity to develop in the big classical roles over time. Not only does their interpretation mature, but the rest of their repertoire also benefits. And for audiences it is, amongst other things, important to see where the present choreography and dancing stems from.

Future

I now have a little time to get myself ready to start with Houston Ballet in early July. I will be artistic associate, and will be there until the end of September initially. I will first of all be working on Ben Stevenson’s production of The Sleeping Beauty which comes back that month.

I have promised myself a holiday as well as the inevitable packing and organizing necessary to deal with the intense heat for Houston, with rain (?) in Singapore where I shall be helping stage Stanton Welch’s Butterfly, and then winter in Toronto, where I will be in November, teaching master classes for the Canadian National Ballet School….

Posted by Maina at June 2, 2003 08:18 AM