Birmingham Royal Ballet, Pointes of View, Birmingham Hippodrome | reviews, news & interviews
Birmingham Royal Ballet, Pointes of View, Birmingham Hippodrome
Birmingham Royal Ballet, Pointes of View, Birmingham Hippodrome
A brave look back at a heritage piece whose best feature is its music
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Elisha Willis in Tharp's 'In the Upper Room': 'This is a thrilling, mesmerising dance'Photo © Bill Cooper/BRB
It can take almost as much courage for a ballet company to look backwards as forwards, and it’s one of the quirks of Birmingham Royal Ballet that you’ll find rare heritage ballets popping up in the mix. John Cranko’s The Lady and the Fool, a Fifties period piece, nestled capriciously like a matron en décolleté in the bosom of its season-opening bill fielding the semi-skimmed abstractness of Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto and Twyla Tharp’s stunning Eighties sneaker ballet, In the Upper Room.
It can take almost as much courage for a ballet company to look backwards as forwards, and it’s one of the quirks of Birmingham Royal Ballet that you’ll find rare heritage ballets popping up in the mix. John Cranko’s The Lady and the Fool, a Fifties period piece, nestled capriciously like a matron en décolleté in the bosom of its season-opening bill fielding the semi-skimmed abstractness of Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto and Twyla Tharp’s stunning Eighties sneaker ballet, In the Upper Room.
The Lady and the Fool needs a good slathering with period perfume and performers' relish. Perhaps Les Ballets Trockadero should do it
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