CARMEN has been totally re-imagined by Johan Inger, the Swedish choreographer. It is totally unlike any Carmen you may have seen in opera or ballet on stage or film.
Inger takes his inspiration from Prosper Merimée’s novella rather than Bizet’s opera. ‘What I wanted to do,’ says Inger, ‘was talk about domestic violence.’
Carmen is no longer the leading role. Don José takes centre stage. The ballet is his story, his seduction, obsession, frustration, jealousy, murder, his psyche. He is played by Rentaro Nakaaki.
Carmen plays a supporting role and is much diminished. She does not, in Minju Kang’s performance, have her usual erotic impact. She flirts. She does not electrify the stage. The Toreador is no longer a toreador. He is a preening rock star who loves looking at himself in a hall of mirrors.
There are male dancers dressed all in black and masked, identified in the programme as dogs, but looking like demons. They roll over the floor. There is also a young boy with a ball, played by a girl in short trousers. Who he/she is remains a mystery.
Bizet’s music has been adapted and gored by Rodion Shchedrin. There is also Latin-American music by Marc Alvarez. The score is very percussive.
Inger’s choreography has a modern vocabulary. ‘I am trying,’ he says, ‘to deepen the language to get to the people beneath. I don’t want to drown the dancers in steps.’
The set is an open stage with nine tall standing mirror panels, which are moved around by the dancers. It is not always easy to know what is going on. The tragedy is set in no specific time nor place. It’s all in Don José’s head. I found the performance emotionally uninvolving.
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