Liam Scarlett's first full-length ballet is revived for the first time running from tonight, 5 March 2019 until 23 March. Victor Frankenstein is played by Federico Bonelli, Elizabeth by Laura Morera, and The Creature is Wei Wang. Scarlett's production uses music by Lowell Liebermann with magnificent designs from John Macfarlane, beautifully and dramatically lit by … [Read more...] about Photo Album: tonight’s opening cast of Frankenstein, The Royal Ballet
Debra Craine
Darcey Bussell wants to get Britain dancing: You don’t need your leg around your ears
Do dancers 'need' to dance? Well, most of them do, yes. It was needing to dance as a child that made them into a professional dancer, and the term can come to define who you are. If you no longer dance, then what are you? Most will agree that Darcey Bussell stopped dancing too early, at the age of 38. She had been having physical problems, true, and she had a young family, … [Read more...] about Darcey Bussell wants to get Britain dancing: You don’t need your leg around your ears
Nudity + Dance = What exactly? The critics on Olivier Dubois’ Tragédie
French choreographer Olivier Dubois' dance work Tragédie has been creating quite a stir. All major papers attended, and there was quite a lot of commotion from publications not usually known for their interest in contemporary dance. Well it was because the dancers were, as my Grandmother would have said, in the nuddy. Always grabs the headlines. Even got me writing this. As … [Read more...] about Nudity + Dance = What exactly? The critics on Olivier Dubois’ Tragédie
Compare and contrast: The Sunday Times vs The Observer
While the opinions expressed by theatre critics are always different, the five or six reviews that I read on major productions of plays, operas and ballets nevertheless head in the same general direction. How delightful it was, therefore, to read Debra Craine in The Sunday Times and Luke Jennings in The Observer on the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet's Coppélia! Neither is … [Read more...] about Compare and contrast: The Sunday Times vs The Observer
Royal Ballet’s incoming director Kevin O’Hare leaves his first interview
Although Kevin O’Hare's appointment as the next director of the Royal Ballet was announced months ago, it is only now that he has spoken about his new role. Up until now he has rightly let Monica Mason do the talking in her final season, but with the publication of the Royal Opera House's 2012-2012 season, which includes his first ballet season, he decided to talk to The Times' … [Read more...] about Royal Ballet’s incoming director Kevin O’Hare leaves his first interview
The Times’ Debra Craine on Matthew Bourne: “I was bowled over by his ability to turn levity into something altogether darker and more moving”
"I will always be grateful to Bourne, because more than 20 years ago his dances made me laugh. Right from the start it was clear that he was going to bring an enormous amount of fun to the job of choreographer. His engaging irreverence was like nothing else in contemporary dance at the time. "And when Swan Lake came along in 1995, with its menacing birds and tortured gay … [Read more...] about The Times’ Debra Craine on Matthew Bourne: “I was bowled over by his ability to turn levity into something altogether darker and more moving”
Christian Lacroix’s La Source costumes are as tacky as disco
Getting to know a critic's taste is important to get the most out of a review. I can be convinced to go and see something by a negative review because I know what the writer goes for. I was therefore surprised when The Times' Debra Craine detested the look of the Paris Ballet's La Source. I loved it. Sumptuous costumes by Christian Lacroix, which recall Franca … [Read more...] about Christian Lacroix’s La Source costumes are as tacky as disco
The Times celebrates Milan’s Raymonda… but why?
Milan's newspaper, the most influential Italian paper, Il Corriere della Sera, almost ignored La Raymonda at La Scala last week, with Valeria Crippa's short article dismissing it quickly. Here the past is preserved in mothballs, the brilliant Marius Petipa's choreographic style appears decrepit, and dull scenery frames an ageing corps, despite the freshness of the students of … [Read more...] about The Times celebrates Milan’s Raymonda… but why?
