Choreography by
Frederick Ashton
Adapted and
extended by
John Lanchbery
Designed by
Osbert Lancaster
Staging by
Alexander Grant
Conducted by
Anthony Twiner
Widow Simone
William Tuckett
Lise
Marianela Nunez
Colas
Carlos Acosta
Thomas
David Drew
Alain
Jonathan Howells
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La Fille mal Gardee
Ferdinand Herold
The Royal Ballet
Covent Garden
19 January - 15 April 2005
Ever since its triumphant premiere in January 1960, Frederick Ashton's version of 'La Fille mal gardee' has been esteemed as one of his happiest creations. He made it on Nadia Nerina with David Blair as her Colas, and the choreography came quickly and easily to him. The first Widow Simone was Stanley Holden, who showed Ashton some clog dances; and their humour permeated the whole. The freedom with which Ashton combined folk dance, some complicated ribbon work, and his sense of simple bucolicism as derived from the Suffolk countryside he loved, shows likewise in the light-heartedness of the whole, and is what gives it its charm.
Marianela Nunez and Carlos Acosta would be show-stoppers in almost any suitable role, but as Lise and Colas they enjoy themselves immensely, not least because between them the chemistry seems wonderfully good. William Tuckett and Jonathan Howells have every bit as good a time in the comic roles of Widow Simone and Alain respectively, both showing a preternatural genius for knockabout.
The good cheer on display was not diminished by a few glitches a door refusing to open, some ribbons going astray (inevitably, for complicated manoeuvres with ribbons seem consciously to invite disaster) but the spirited dancing and the luminously colourful Osbert Lancaster designs made it impossible for the enjoyment to be diminished one jot.
Ashton is a masterly story-teller, and he always gives dancers capacious opportunities to shine. Even with so slight a confection as the story here all light and happiness, all harmless good fun much of the best of Ashton is on display: the inventive and expressive classicism of his choreography, the wittiness and accuracy of his powers of observation, that bring truth to so incidental a matter as the way a cockerel walks when leading his hens into the morning sunshine.
This is a charming piece, beautifully performed, that breathes the idyll no less attractive for being the stuff of purest romance of rustic health and the easy way simple hearts find love.
AC Grayling
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