Liam Scarlett’s Swan Lake returns to The Royal Opera House
This Spring, The Royal Ballet’s production of Swan Lake returns to the Royal Opera House.
Liam Scarlett‘s version of the ballet (based on the Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov choreography) was created in 2018, three years before his tragic death at 35.
Scarlett’s position with The Royal Ballet ended in March 2020 after he was accused of sexual misconduct, and his name was dropped from the programme by an understandably nervous Royal Opera House, even though an independent investigation concluded there were “no matters to pursue”.
So how gladdening it is to see this phrase in the latest press release for the upcoming run:
This reimagining of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s towering masterpiece by Liam Scarlett is testament to the late choreographer’s abiding love of classicism and innate musicality, with a sublime, haunting score by Tchaikovsky and glittering designs by John Macfarlane.
Amongst a rich number of casts, two dancers make their debut in some of the most challenging roles in the repertory: Mariko Sasaki as Odette/Odile with Joseph Sissens as Prince Siegfried.
In addition to the stage run (6 March – 11 May 2024 and 12 – 28 June 2024), the production will be broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on Wednesday 24 April with Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball in the leading roles.
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 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.
Poor Scarlett – his version of SL – what an absurd travesty – he obviously had a military/ uniform fetish . And the rest of his “re-imagining” was just as ridiculous . The sets : the lakeside scenes look like the first scene of “Das Rheingold” – one expects Alberich to crawl our from behind the rock…what awful designs !