24 – 28 September
Pushing the boundaries of dance as ever, Rambert deliver something akin to a ‘rock ballet’. If, like me, you are not familiar with the original TV series, fear not, for this is not a simple translation into dance, but a reworking of its themes with an emphasis on the well-springs and consequences of actions. Whilst in some way obviously a spin-off from the success of the television serial this show stands alone as an artistic creation and, it has to be said, something of a spectacle. Pulling in all the talents of lighting and design to give form to the dance and music, the show brings new texture to Steven Knight’s story of Birmingham’s inter-war underworld.
Beginning in Flanders fields, choreographer Benoit Swan Pouffer has created a chilling evocation of broken and traumatised bodies emerging from the trenches. These are the seeds of what is to follow. As if that weren’t enough the thumping rock and jagged lighting lead into yet another dark valley of death that is the brutality of heavy industry. River Styx, by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club makes the transition with Moi Tran’s evocative set and Natasha Chivers’ lighting ensuring that escape from the trenches finds little respite as a cog in an equally inhuman machine. The dance becomes mechanical and humanity itself seems to struggle to survive. And so the key to what follows is shown as the narrator (Benjamin Zephaniah in recordings from the TV) tells us that Thomas, dead inside, is thus liberated from all sense of moral responsibility.
This stands as cultural experience like no other work of movement that I can recall. For some ballet purists this may be the cause of disappointment as the dance is not always foregrounded with so much else going on. However the dance is there, the quality of movement and interpretation never leaves the stage. Conor Cerrigan as Tommy and Naya Lovell as Grace, like Romeo and Juliet, find themselves caught up in forces they seem powerless to control.
Composer and musical supervisor, Roman Gianarthur, has pulled in works by many other musicians and genres; jazz, folk, classical, but with a spine of rock typified by Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, which bookends Tommy’s story after demob. The onstage band of Yaron Engler (Musical director) Joe Downard and Mitchell Emms confirm the sense that the show is a rock ballet. And then Richard Gellar’s costumes bring the same sense of style that infused the television show whilst allowing the dancers full movement.
Although I found the show overly long it is undoubtedly a work which will attract and hopefully keep a new audience for ballet.
★★★★☆ Graham Wyles, 25 September 2024
