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Choreography
by
Graeme
Murphy
Music
by
Piotr Illyich
Tchaikovsky
Designed
by
Kristian
Fredrikson
Odette
Madeleine
Eastloe
Prince
Siegfried
Steven Heathcote
Baroness
von
Rothbart
Lynette Wills
Artists of
the Australian Ballet
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The
Australian Ballet
The Coliseum
20 - 24 July 2005 |
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There
is much to enjoy in Graeme
Murphy's reworking of 'Swan
Lake' as a version of the
Charles-Diana-Camilla story,
both in the choreography and
in the spirited performance
of the Australian Ballet.
Madeleine Eastloe as Odette
is the show-stealer, dancing
an emotionally and physically
demanding role which keeps
her on stage through a large
part of all three acts. She
and Lynette Wills as the Baroness
are expressive dancers, who
evidently relished the narrative
scope afforded them by Murphy's
choreography. He was present
at this performance and must
have been delighted by the
reception they received.
Murphy is a story-teller of
great talent, and the first
act of his Swan
Lake
is a triumph of narrative
art. The two subsequent acts
are less exhilarating not
because they have less merit
each in their own way, but
because the first is so spectacular.
The phrase 'something old,
something new, something borrowed'
- or even: quite a lot borrowed,
or more likely: quoted - comes
to mind in contemplating Murphy's
choreographic style, for he
is an eclectic and a magpie,
stitching his cloth out of
the familiar ballet tradition,
but skilfully, and with an
enjoyable ability to add and
invent, which lifts his work
out of the realm of mere pastiche.
The happy wedding of Odette
and Prince Siegfried is ruined
by the former's realisation
that the latter is still entangled
with his mistress, Baroness
von Rothbart. Odette is driven
mad by this, and in the second
act languishes in a sanatorium,
where she dreams of being
a swan among swans, with Siegfried
restored to her in perfect
love. In the third act she
returns from the sanatorium
to interrupt a party at Baroness
von Rothbart's house, not
in a frenzy but in calmness
and majesty; which makes Siegfried
realise her worth and fall
in love with her. When the
Baroness attempts to have
her returned to the sanatorium,
she flees; Siegfried searches
for her everywhere, finding
her at last on the shores
of Swan Lake. There she and
Siegfried enjoy a moment of
ecstasy before she drowns
herself, realising that her
fragile mental health forbids
enduring happiness to them.
This poignant tale is told
chiefly through Odette, and
Madeleine Eastloe's account
of her successive joy, sufferings,
madness, dreams, transcendence
of suffering and resolution,
is beautifully done. Eastloe
acted her part as well as
danced it, so vivid is the
tale she conveys, and every
nuance of the anguish, passion,
and eventual reconciliation
with both love and death.
Next to her role the others
are almost ciphers, although
Murphy tries to give Siegfried
some depth in his two solos,
one in the first act and one
in the third, where torment
and indecision are expressed
by twisted, uncomfortable,
stumbling limbs. Some members
of the audience are likely
to find Siegfried an unsympathetic
character in this interpretation
- in the classic version he
is at least bewitched into
betraying Odette, whereas
here he is unable to make
up his mind between his two
women, and therefore unable
to be loyal to either.
The best things in the production
are the novelties and ingenuities
woven into the dance by Murphy
- his clever extensions of
the classical vocabulary,
his flashes of wit, the sheer
inventiveness of some of the
ensemble dancing. This is
most apparent in the second
act where the corps de ballet
offer what at first seem to
be traditional
Swan
Lake
moments but which, as they
evolve, one realises are convincing
refashionings. These are as
sequins attached to a conception
which, otherwise and variously,
remind considerably of Ashton
or Macmillan; thus Murphy
engages in a conscious drawing
upon tradition, and it is
satisfyingly done, with a
large ambition that gives
all the company scope to dance
to the top of their ability.
Kristian Fredrikson's set
and costume design is outstanding,
and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
made every note of Tchaikovsky's
beautiful music sound like
gold. It was a satisfied audience
that left the Coliseum that
night.
AC
Grayling |
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