Review: Matthew Ball is riveting in The Royal Ballet’s Mayerling

Ever since its creation in 1978, Mayerling has fascinated audiences through its daring use of searingly perceptive choreography, the utter honesty of its storytelling, the absorbing depiction of actual historical figures, and the deployment of impressive designs from MacMillan’s regular collaborator, Nicholas Georgiadis. It is an endlessly intriguing ballet and one of MacMillan’s greatest achievements, and it is now made all the greater for the way Morera has sought to restore details in both choreography and action that have become opaque over time.

This portrayal of a decadent Imperial court was brought vividly back to life through a myriad of fine performances on opening night, but none was finer than the Rudolf of Matthew Ball. Danced with thrilling, lucid fluency, Ball makes no attempt to portray Rudolf in a sympathetic light but, instead, wins our sympathy by showing us so completely the mental and physical disintegration of the Crown Prince. Over the course of the ballet’s three acts the audience witnesses Rudolf’s transformation from an angry young prince on the day of his wedding to a woman he does not love, and who is desperate to win the affection of his mother, to a man so destroyed by a lifestyle centred around promiscuity and drug addiction that he has no option other than to end his life. Seldom has Rudolf’s final solo, before he murders his mistress and kills himself, been danced with such agony or exhaustion, but what is so rewarding about Ball’s performance is the way he does not shirk from the fact that Rudolf wrecks so many other lives along the way. It is a riveting performance, and one that stands alongside the greats of the past, right back to the original Rudolf, David Wall.

The women who played a significant part in Rudolf’s life were also danced with compelling authority. Baroness Mary Vetsera, the teenage mistress who chose to die alongside Rudolf, was danced by Melissa Hamilton with such obsessional, dangerous adolescent fanaticism that, had she lived today, she would surely have been issued with a restraining order. As Princess Stephanie, Rudolf’s wife whom he terrorised on their wedding night, Meaghan Grace Hinkis was compelling in conveying sheer terror, and as the Empress Elisabeth, Rudolf’s mother, Kristen McNally was chilling in her complete self-absorption and lack of maternal love. Best of all was Mayara Magri as Countess Marie Larisch, Rudolf’s former mistress, who brilliantly suggested the manipulative side of her character, as well as the fact that Larisch was probably the only woman in his life who truly loved Rudolf. In smaller roles, Luca Acri had all the brilliance but none of the pathos for the character of Bratfisch, Rudolf’s cabdriver, and Mariko Sasaki was too dainty to convince as Mitzi Caspar, a high-class prostitute. However, Mica Bradbury brought a great deal of characterisation to the role of Princess Louise, with whom Rudolf flirts during his wedding, and Giacomo Rovero was magnetic as Colonel “Bay” Middleton, Elisabeth’s lover.

The only downside to the performance was the less-than-ideal playing of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under the baton of Martin Georgiev, which seemed to fall apart completely during the crucial pas de deux for Rudolf and Stephanie at the end of Act I.

This run of Mayerling continues until the end of May, with numerous cast changes that are scheduled to include the debuts of William Bracewell and Calvin Richardson as Rudolf. Part of the fascination of the ballet is seeing how the dynamics can completely change with each different interpretation, and I will certainly be back at Covent Garden for further performances very soon.

Jonathan Gray Guest Author

Jonathan Gray was editor of Dancing Times from 2008 to 2022.

He studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic, and Wimbledon School of Art where he graduated with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. He was on the Curatorial Staff of the Theatre Museum, London, from 1989 to 2005, assisting on a number of dance-related exhibitions, and helping with the recreation of original designs for a number of The Royal Ballet’s productions including Danses concertantes, Daphnis and Chloë, and The Sleeping Beauty.

Jonathan Gray has also contributed to the Financial Times and The Guardian, written programme articles for The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and is co-author of the book Unleashing Britain: Theatre gets real 1955-64, published in 2005. He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.