Review: The Royal Ballet’s Onegin – Lauren Cuthbertson and Ryoichi Hirano give the performance of a decade

Lauren Cuthbertson is about as Royal Ballet as they come. Starting as a Junior Associate at The Royal Ballet School before going through the entire system as a full-time student, she joined the company in 2002. Some six years later she became a Principal and the rest is history – endless dancing, artist development, renowned guesting appearances, magazine covers, having two daughters and so on. Until, in September 2024, she announced she was becoming a Principal Guest Artist with the company, to “develop in new ways, both on and off the stage.”

Becoming a Guest Principal with the company you had your career with is basically the ideal gig – you’re known, and respected and can start to make active choices about what work you do and don’t want to be involved with. When Cuthbertson first made the announcement, I was surprised, having not expected it at all. But after I let it sit for a while… I thought what a shrewd move. Another intelligent decision by Cuthbertson about the management of her career and life. To me, it represents a dancer in a position of authority accessing the agency available to them; an artist calling the shots for once… which still doesn’t happen that often in the ballet world. The very nature of the genre being about silent subservience.

Cuthbertson has taken this new era by the horns and started on the two-year Diploma of Dance Teaching course at the RBS, and she’s also experiencing some interesting premieres. In the upcoming, all-Balanchine programme she’ll dance the role of the Waltz Girl in Serenade. Having previously done the Russian Girl, extremely well, she’s onto new things as it were.

And this is the same reason I find myself watching Cranko’s Onegin again. Cuthbertson debuts in the lead role of Tatiana, a chunky, dramatic one with a heady combination of Pushkin narrative, Tchaikovsky score and Cranko movement. February 10th was meant to be Cuthbertson’s opening night, but due to casting changes she graced the stage for the first time on February 7th. Regardless I attended her now second show, on the 10th.

In Act 1, where others make Tatiana feel weak and invisible, Cuthbertson brings presence and distance. Her Tatiana is a full person, but one that’s far from the madding crowd. Deep into literature and her own thoughts, she doesn’t seem to have the time or space for pleasantries. When Onegin arrives, things change for her though. It’s like she sees herself in him –two lost souls – though of course he isn’t able, or doesn’t want to reciprocate at this point.

The final Mirror pas de deux shows two mature, experienced artists taking the work where it can go with narrative-informed movement. Cuthbertson feels like a woman from a different epoch, where emotions are felt, but all the while with a sense of awareness… “Am I revealing too much of myself?”

Ryoichi Hirano is an undeniable presence as Onegin. Tall, dark, engaged yet not – he hits all the marks in a subtle way. And I believe the rumours to be true – he looks like a superb partner. Or at least Cuthbertson’s dancing suggests so. Her Tatiana in the throngs of passion is an impossible to master balance of freedom and refinement. Towards the end of the pas de deux there’s a lift where Tatiana soars above Onegin’s head balancing on one of his hands, and Hirano lifted Cuthbertson seemingly from nowhere with zero effort. It was a truly breathtaking moment.

Elsewhere Calvin Richardson as Lensky and Mayara Magri as Olga do good work, but don’t necessarily transcend. Their pas de deux was well executed but didn’t follow the sweeping romanticism of Tchaikovsky’s score, which is a shame as it’s there for the taking.

In the second act, I found the four main characters in this cast much more compelling than the opening night roster. Here we see the connection of the individuals bubbling over into confusion and fallout. Magri’s Olga is knowing and mischievous, Richardson’s Lensky weak until he can’t take anymore, Hirano’s Onegin revelling in a rollercoaster of emotions, and Cuthbertson’s Tatiana a victim of herself and the spiralling situation.

Throughout the act Cuthbertson shows an exemplary understanding of stagecraft. In Act 2, Tatiana does quite a lot of nothing (in obvious terms), but she gave each moment purpose and intention. It was also a revelation to see someone crying with more layers than just hands-in-face. Cuthbertson collapsed from the inside out, showing how true heartbreak can feel in the moment. Physical.

I struggle with what Cranko did with Tatiana’s solo in this act. I appreciate he was going for something less formulaic and more emotionally led, but structurally it feels like a little bit of a dog’s dinner. That said, I enjoyed the frustration Cuthbertson brought to her execution shown through aggressive arabesque line. And she seemed truly shocked when Onegin hits the table in reaction to her erratic behaviour.

The believable drama continued into Lensky’s solo and the dual that follows. And as the curtain closed we saw the protagonists clearly switch roles – Onegin broken, and Tatiana finding her strength through trauma.

Act 3 allows for more insight into Cuthbertson’s reading and it’s far from predictable. In the pas de deux with her now husband Prince Gremin – a very committed Gary Avis – Cuthbertson’s Tatiana isn’t heavy on the romanticism, rather showing something more akin to comfort and companionship. Though when she catches sight of Onegin, her body immediately turns to stone. Almost rigid on the spot. Very good stuff.

Hirano’s Onegin allows the audience to make so much more sense of the character and his current situation. He seems to behave like he has a magnetic connection to Tatiana, almost trying to consume her scent when she passes by him.

When the pair meet in the final pas de deux it’s high octane, drama as dance in action. You become properly aware that Tatiana can’t even look at him for fear of giving in. Her eyes are averted, she offers her back more than anything else in order to protect herself. When Cuthbertson’s Tatiana finally releases it’s via freefall, and seeing her dive into the abyss that’s Hirano’s desperate Onegin is staggering. I don’t want to go OTT, but it feels like a performance of a decade, or something similar to that. Two, experienced artists coming together in this ballet at this point in their careers shouldn’t be taken lightly.

A side note – dancers performing older characters on stage:

The ballroom scene in Act 2 features a few seniors performed by young company members and the overriding feeling is naff. Suggestion one – work on developing the stagecraft and movement understanding of the current cast. Suggestion two – get some actual older performers to do the work. I’d vouch for option two as there’s a lot of talent out there likely gagging for the opportunity.

Matthew Paluch Guest Author

Matthew Paluch was awarded a place at The Royal Ballet School in 1990 where he graduated in 1997. His first four years as a professional dancer were spent working with London City Ballet, Scottish Ballet, K-Ballet and English National Ballet, becoming a full-time member of ENB until leaving in 2006.

Matthew graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance, Professional Dancers’ Teaching Diploma in 2007, and was formerly on faculty at The Royal Ballet School. He completed his Masters in Ballet Studies at Roehampton University in 2011, has been a freelance writer since 2010 and currently works in the Law Sector.

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