This particular performance of the most famous ballet of the Romantic era is a very special and emotional occasion.
Two nations are in mourning. The UK mourns the death of their Queen, Ukraine mourns the invasion of their country by Russia. The Ukrainian dancers, now in exile, refugees based in The Hague, who have given them a home, are in London for just a week.
The performance begins with the UK’s national anthem (Benjamin Britten‘s orchestration) and ends with the Ukrainian national anthem and the two lead dancers holding a blue and yellow flag aloft.
The profits from ticket sales will go to support the people and culture of Ukraine.
The production is interesting historically. Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has gone to the Russian archives to find out what Marius Petipa’s Giselle would have been like in the 1840’s and in the period to the end of the 19th century. He has stripped away the 20th century accretions.
Ratmansky has included a lot of traditional mime, far more than we are accustomed to; and which is fascinating to watch precisely because it is so rare.
Giselle still goes mad but she does not commit suicide when Albrecht turns out to be a royal in disguise and already engaged. Bathilde, Albrecht’s fiancée is far more sympathetically acted to the extent that she even befriends Giselle.
The Wilis, the ghostly jilted brides, are not as fierce as some I have encountered at dead of night in the forest. Another surprise is that the dead Giselle, in the very final moments of the ballet, actively wants Albrecht to marry Bathilde.
Christine Shevchenko’s Giselle is a wide-eyed naïve girl. Oleskii Tiutiunnyk’s Albrecht is a tall, handsome and remorseful charmer, who is much admired for his beautiful scissor jumps.
Elizoveta Gogidze is Queen of the Wilis. Sergeie Kliachin gives Hilarion, the gamekeeper, who had hoped to marry Giselle before Albrecht came along, a strong characterisation.
I much enjoyed the performance. Viktor Oliynik conducts the English National Opera. Adolphe Adam’s music, as always, wins all hearts and breaks all hearts.
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