Lesbian ballets are a rarity. Gentleman Jack is a major turning point in queer drama. It tells a true story of a rich woman, who lived in Yorkshire in the early nineteenth century.
Anne Lister (1791-1840) wrote a 4-million-word diary. Much of it was in code and it took five years to translate. The coded bits were about her financial transactions and her numerous affairs with women.
Sally Wainwright’s translation and adaptation for a BBC TV series gave a detailed picture of her life, concentrating on her business acumen and her on/off relationship with Ann Walker, a nervous wealthy heiress with mental health problems.
Lister, landowner, entrepreneur, traveller, took on a man’s job, the management and restoration of her estate. She opened a colliery, bravely battling with a brutal landowner who was stealing her coal. She was not intimidated by anybody. The Halifax community nicknamed her Gentleman Jack.
In her distinctive and elegant black clothes, and with her top hat and cane and with her fast stride, Lister cut an impressive non-conforming figure. Energetic and manly, she defied gender roles and remained independent. Today, Lister has become a gay icon and is celebrated as the First Modern Lesbian.
Millions have watched Gentleman Jack on television. The coded diary has now been turned into a ballet by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa to wide-ranging music by Peter Salem. The choreography is both modern and classical.
Is the ballet as good as the TV series? The answer is no. The narrative and characterisation are much weaker. So is the acting. The emotionally charged award-winning performances Suranne Jones and Sophie Rundel gave on TV are a hard act to follow.
Nida Aydinoglu looks far too young to be cast as Lister. She is too boyish. Julie Nunes lacks depth as the petrified Walker. The pas de deux are not as graphic as the erotic love scenes on film.
The actual staging is excellent. The moving digital screens, on the back of large, tall bookcases, are moved around by the corps with great efficiency and are beautifully effective. Christopher Ash’s lighting and set design are a major high spot. The diary’s coded words are on the corps’ costumes. The corps become an aggressive Chorus of Words.
Is the ballet worth seeing? The answer is yes. The LGBTQ+ community has turned up in large numbers at every theatre on tour. I was surrounded by lesbians. Gentleman Jack can be seen at Theatre Royal in Norwich in May, The Lowry in Salford in June and Alhambra Theatre in Bradford in September.
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