Cathy Marston:
Liasons Dangereux
Royal Danish Ballet
The Drama House
May 27, 2017
Pär Isberg:
The Dream of Swan Lake
Royal Swedish Ballet
Malmoe Opera
May 26, 2017
Cathy Marston´s creation for the Royal Danish Ballet literary places itself between two chairs. It should be either significantly longer or shorter. It succeeds in showing that the 18th century novels in letters has all the ingridiences needed for a story telling ballet, but the decision to make it an almost full night ballet with a small cast and practically no corps de ballet hinders it in reaching its full potential.
It should either have been a shorter chamber ballet like The Moors Pavane which managed to get the full Othello into a half hour long ballet or getting the full Macmillan or Neumeier treatment.
A Dramatic Sense
This is the third Cathy Marston ballet made on RDB dancers, although it is the first made on the RDB company. In 2013, she created The Elephant Man with former RDB star Alexander Kølpin and Nikolaj Hübbe for Kølpin's summer ballet. Two years later, she created Lolita also for the summer ballet, which starred Ida Praetorius and Mads Blangstrup in the leading roles. Both productions show her grip on storytelling ballets and her understanding of the RDB dancers dramatic trademark. Signing her for the company was a very logical step.
Bringing a novel in letters to the stage either as a ballet, play or as in the case of Liasons Dangereux also two films is a demanding task. In this production, the choreographer and dramatic consultant Edward Kemp had come to the decision to include two actors as the voices of the leading protagonists Markise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont.
Partly it is a good solution. It does not hurt the role of Valmont as much as the role as Merteuil. The actor Mads Rømer Brolin-Tani is significantly taller than Soloist Jon Axel Fransson, but Fransson gets amble focus and stage time to create his role. Kizzy Matiakis in what should be the leading female character is literary hidden behind the actress Marie Dalsgaard, when she is allowed on stage. In many scenes, the actress carries the show by herself.
Getting Physical
Ballet is a physical art, and in this case the dancers, who are cast as the most sexual active in the plot, gets the most scene time. Therefore, the supporting role as the young ingenue Cecile Volanges, danced and acted brilliantly by Ida Praetorius, get more stage time than the leading ladies in the story Merteuil and the pious Mme de Tourvel, danced by Astrid Elbo.
It is a brilliant cast that brings together the dancers, who has been the most significant stars in the season. Although Jon Axel Fransson lost the first part of the season, he has been outstanding in Alice, Theme & Variations and Rubies. As Valmont, he also gets an outlet for his strong dramatic talent.
Seeing what Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas could do as the young and not that faithful lovers Cecile and Danceny made one wish for a return of McMillan's Manon. Astrid Elbo creates a touching Tourvel. Unfortunately Kizzy Matiakis, who was made principal earlier this season, does not really gets the chance to form her character, due to the double casting and it also looks like she has given up the fight. The ensemble includes a small corps acting as letters and the brilliant soloist Sebastian Haynes, who also could have been a fine Valmont, is even used as a cello!
Making the Pieces Fit
I am certain that it has been visible during the production that the second part is too repetitive and does not bring that much to the plot and storytelling. However, as the ballet was billed as a stand-alone production with a fixed ticket price, the option to shorten the ballet was probably not viable. The solution of combining a shorter sharper version with another ballet may have been considered, but could not have been implemented, even though it would have made the key ballet better.
As it stands, it is more than a good try, however not as strong a contender as it could have been. Unfortunately, there is little chance that the production team will get a second chance to make this production better, either by shorten it or make it bigger splash.
Painting the Facade
The day before I came across a production, fighting similar problems. The Royal Swedish Ballet, based in Stockholm since Valmont and Merteuils time, brought their brand new production of Swan Lake to Malmø in the South of Sweden, not 30 minutes travel from Copenhagen.
This new production, by choreographer and former RSB star, Päer Isberg is putting a sort of The Black Swan inspiration to the classic. Siegfried is a choreographer, who is also cast as Siegfried in his own production, Odette an upcoming ballerina, and Von Rothbart is a principal dancer, scheming because he only got Von Rothbart instead of Siegfried. It does look like an interesting concept, but unfortunately, the choreographer cannot make the pieces come together. He and probably the company management do not really dare to go down the radical road. Instead, the production has to be both the classical Swan Lake and the modern take. It paints the facade but it does not bring any real interesting to the classic. On the contrary, it destroys more.
What the production also show is that the Swedish ballet is not in as good a shape as before. They used to be a solid, although not very interesting company doing the international standards, but never really finding their own voice. Now they cannot even find their own feet.
Where have all the Swedes Gone?
There are surprisingly few Swedish dancers left in the company and it looks like they cannot procure the best of what is available. The corps includes many very tall and very small dancers, who naturally struggles to form a unity. Neither Calum Lowden as Siegfried or Vahe Martirosyan as von Rothbart managed a good landing in fifth position, nor Principal Nadja Sellrup was struggling both technically and dramatically as Odette/Odile.
Choreographer Päer Isberg could not find choreographic solutions that would make his take on the ballet function. There is nothing wrong in taking a radical view on a classic. However, in this case the storyline is to thin and he cannot back it up. The production had strong design by Jerome Kaplan, who has also done fine work in Copenhagen. The set deploys the old Swedish opera house. Unfortunately, design alone cannot save a thin and misunderstood plot.
Set the Institutions Free
Both productions shows the difficulties of the big institutional companies. The artistic director are bound by long-term planning and once a project is approved, it is almost impossible to cancel, or adjust the project. It is likewise as difficult to prolong a success.
It is my hope that it will be possible to make allowances that are more artistic. Both ballets could have been better if the schedule allowed the choreographers the possibility to adjust the works if needed.
Photos:
Liasons Dangeroux
- Mette Bødtcher, Astrid Elbo, Sorella Englund ,Ida Praetorius and Jon Axel Fransson
- Andreas Kaas, Ida Praetorius and Sebastian Haynes
- Astrid Elbo and Jon Axel Fransson
- Kizzy Matiakis and Marie Dalsgaard ( All by Costin Radu (copyrights(c) Royal Danish Ballet) The Dream of Swan Lake (Copyright (c) by the Royal Swedish Ballet)
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