First look at Les Enfants Terribles – a new world premiere from The Royal Ballet

The project brings together choreographer Javier De Frutos and leading lights of ballet, contemporary dance and opera to create a new production of Philip Glass’s dance opera inspired by Jean Cocteau‘s surrealist tragedy Les Enfants Terribles.

Les Enfants Terribles forms part of the Glass at 80 celebrations at the Barbican to mark Glass’s 80^th birthday on 31 January.

Cocteau’s novel tells the story of orphaned siblings Lise and Paul who escape isolation in the real world by creating their own private game in an ‘enchanted’ room. As they grow up, the rules of the Game start to control their lives until the distinction between reality and their own imagination becomes dangerously blurred. The novel is considered to be Cocteau’s seminal work and he collaborated with director Jean-Pierre Melville to adapt it into the 1950 film of the same name.

Royal Ballet Principal Dancers Edward Watson and Zenaida Yanowsky perform in this production, with their roles being mirrored by names from the world of contemporary dance and singers from The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Watson collaborated with De Frutos when he and Wendy Whelan danced in his piece First and Wait in 2015.

Accompanied by pianists on three grand pianos, this is a multi-layered piece that portrays a world unhooked from reality.

Les Enfants Terribles
Friday 27 – Sunday 29 January
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
Tickets £10 – £40 

27, 28 January at 7.45pm
29 January at 4pm

Running Time: about 2 hours, including an interval

Box Office:
www.roh.org.uk / www.barbican.org.uk
0207 304 4000 / 0207 638 8891

This production contains adult themes
Suitable for ages 14+
Sung in French with English surtitles, and narrated in English

Director Javier De Frutos
Choreography Javier De Frutos
Music Philip Glass
Designer Jean-Marc Puissant
Lighting designer Bruno Poet
Video Artist Tal Rosner

Dancers
Zenaida Yanowsky*
Edward Watson*
Kristen McNally
Thomas Whitehead
Gemma Nixon
Clemmie Sveaas
Jonathan Goddard
Thomasin Gülgeç

Singers
Jennifer Davis
Emily Edmonds
Gyula Nagy**
Paul Curievici

Piano
Kate Shipway
Grant Green
James Hendry

Conducted by Timothy Burke

*The Royal Ballet
**Jette Parker Young Artist

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.