London town, part I: Ballet and Shakespeare

I'm in London for the next week, seeing a whole bunch of theatre, ballet, and hopefully some classical music also. Meanwhile, I'm using some time in this Internet cafe. So far I've seen two Royal Ballet performances and Henry IV Part I at the National Theatre. Some capsule reviews:

ROYAL BALLET: THE DREAM / THREE SONGS - TWO VOICES / THE RIGHT OF SPRING
May 17, 7:30 pm, Royal Opera House

Frederick Ashton's "The Dream" is his one-act ballet version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream. Its a wonderful little ballet filled with choreographic gems, and great opportunities for dancing - the choreography is also infused with Ashton's unique, English style of dancing. Lots of quick, fleet-footed dancing and softer, more understated lines. The look and feel is therefore less exaggerated, as it would be with the huge, grand arabesques in the Russian style, for example (see "Swan Lake" for what I mean) but it instead just very...well, English. It makes "The Dream" quite satisfying and fun to watch, even if narratively and musically the ballet is a bit deficient (I don't particularly like how John Lanchbery and Ashton ripped apart Mendelssohn's music to fit their likings, but I guess it works as background music). The ballet was given wonderful performances by Leanne Benjamin and Edward Watson as Titania and Oberon, respectively. Benjamin's Titania is authoritative and quirkily fairy-like all at the same time: perfect for the role. I haven't really enjoyed her in other ballets, where she's supposed to be playing a little girl, but here - where she's all woman - it's perfect. Edward Watson made his debut as Oberon, and it didn't look like a debut at all - confident and focused. What impresses me most about the Royal Ballet is that every dancer is so dramatically present and "with" the goings on on-stage (unlike in other companies - ahem, ABT - where every person seems to be lost in his or her own corner of the stage). Makes the evening much more theatrical and interesting.

Christopher Bruce's brand-new ballet for the company, "Three Songs - Two Voices" was definetly not so great, especially following "The Dream." The choreography is all on flat foot and modernish, and it's also terribly unfocused and messy. There simply isn't any point, choreographically or thematically, to the whole ballet. It's just a bunch of random movement that is somewhat connected to the score, which is Nigel Kennedy's violin interpretation of three songs by Jimi Hendrix. Too bad - the whole thing seems like a very missed opportunity to do something fun with the music, but Bruce didn't seem to have any interesting ideas to put into it. The whole ballet has the feeling of an extended movement improvisation exercise - interesting for the dancers in the studio perhaps, but very uninteresting on the stage...

Mara Galeazzi with the company, after "The Rite of Spring"

Kenneth MacMillan's "Rite of Spring" rounded out the program. Stravinsky's score for "Rite" is stunning - dramatic, rythmically complex and endlessly fascinating - so it makes up for any oddities that might be occuring on stage. The whole ballet just looks a bit strange, with dancers in bald caps or absurd wigs and painted up to look like alien creatures who have just been shot out of the womb. And the choreography enforces this alien creature look even more - still though the movement and intensity matches up with the music quite nicely, and the patterns are interesting to watch. THough it wasn't my favorite ballet, it was still decently interesting to watch.

One more viewing of this program to come on Friday night, with a different cast in "The Dream". We'll see how I feel about the other two pieces on second view.

HENRY IV, Part I
May 18, 2:15 pm, National Theatre - Olivier Theatre

Got into this very well-sold production with a £10 day seat on the day of the show. This put me in the last row of the upper circle, on the side - but still it's a very well laid out thrust-style arena stage and everything can be seen perfectly from any seat. But still being so far away was probably not the best thing here, as it is a very long dramatically focused Shakespeare production. Removing me so far from the action was distancing and my attention wandered frequently.

This is definetly a production that requires your full unrequited attention: very intense and very British in its staging of Shakespeare. Strong focus on the actors and acting, and very detailed reading of the text. The production reminded me of the "As You Like It" that played the Ahmanson Theatre earlier this year - just a straight-through, actor driven production that goes on forever. I nearly fell asleep several times (partly thanks to jet-lag), but I still noticed the actors were brilliant even if I wish I was drawn into the production a bit more.

ROYAL BALLET: SWAN LAKE
May 18, 7:30 pm, Royal Opera House

There was a bit of drama regarding casting on the lead-up to this performance. Darcey Bussell injured her leg last week and had to back out of two performances, so everyone was anxiously waiting to see if she would actually dance on this night - thankfully, she did and we got to see the Royal Ballet's current big star. And it was worth it - Bussell is quite good and has very remarkable technique. Hers was a very clean and matter-of-fact performance, even if the emotional wattage wasn't as high as it could be. She makes a perfect White Swan and an even better Odile, with her sparkling technique and easy adagio. Very nice to watch. Her partner was the very handsome Roberto Bolle, who looks pretty enough and partners very well but doesn't manage to stir up too much excitement on his own.

Darcey Bussell, after Swan Lake

The Royal's production is, shall we say, quirky. The design looks like someone went mad with a bunch of peacock feathers tossed them all over the entire set, and there are such strange details like little munchkin monsters terrorizing the ball guests in Act III. However, the staging doesnt fuss much with the essence of "Swan Lake" - the gorgeous White Acts by the lake - so all is ok. The details make for some ridiculous distractions to laugh at.

Other things done

Running out of time here in the Internet Cafe, but so far I've also taken the backstage tour at the National Theatre. I'd strongly recommend this for a trip to London - it's fascinating to see the costume, prop and set shops and spend some time on the National's three different stages. You also get to wander around the backstage areas a bit and get some very nice history of the theatre from very informed tour guides. It's only £5 and can be booked at the theatre.

Today's shows: "Mary Poppins" and "Billy Elliot" - both should be fun to watch and either laugh at or enjoy.