Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Inventive and exhilarating – but don’t have nightmares
WITH Halloween just around the corner and pumpkins piled high on the supermarket shelves you might have thought the ballet was the perfect place to escape the scary stuff - not so.
Things were looking ominous as the queue to get in to see Akram Khan’s Giselle at the Bristol Hippodrome ran along St Augustine’s Parade, round into Colston Street and on to Pipe Lane.
Theatre-goers looked incredulous as they hurried along to join the back of the line. Was it Bristol’s bad traffic that had held us up so we were all cutting it a bit fine or were the masses a sign of the ballet’s popularity?
Probably a bit of both. But as we settled into our seats in the packed auditorium I don’t think many of us were truly expecting what we actually saw on the stage.
This incredible reimagining by the brilliant choreographer Akram Khan ditches the classical ballet rule book.
His background in classical Indian dance and contemporary helps create a Giselle for the 21st century that is more reminiscent of the muchlauded Rambert Dance Company, famed for its innovative contemporary dance, than a 19th-century Romantic ballet. Out go the tutus, tights and the tulle skirts, replaced by the drab, grey attire of 21st-century migrant factory workers.
The story, in essence, remains the same. Migrant worker Giselle (or peasant girl in the original), danced on this occasion by Fernanda Oliveira,
is in love with the wealthy Albrecht (Aitor Arrieta).
However, Giselle also has a wouldbe lover Hilarion (Victor Prigent), and Albrecht (unknown to Giselle) already has a fiancée. And so, a tale of deception and broken hearts unfolds with deadly consequences, as Giselle’s ensuing insanity leads her down a dangerous path.
This interpretation of Giselle is not for the faint-hearted. I watched most of it on the edge of my seat, mesmerised by the intensity, the despair and the drama of it all.
The dancing was exceptional (as you’d expect from the English National Ballet) and the adapted score by Vincenzo Lamagna (from Adolphe Adam’s original) was terrifying in places. I felt I was holding my breath through the first half.
But if you thought Act I was dark, Act II was even darker. Here we meet the Wilis (ghosts of factory girls looking for revenge from those who had done them wrong). The corps de ballet of the Wilis (led by Myrtha, their queen, danced by Isabelle Brouwers) performed with their long hair down and messy, carrying long sticks that they would strike on the floor or hold in their teeth.
The choreography was inventive and danced with precision, creating a harrowing spectacle.
The audience were all on their feet applauding at the end, exhilarated at what they’d witnessed. It truly is the season for ghosts and ghouls, but please don’t have nightmares.
Giselle continues at the Bristol Hippodrome today.