United Kingdom English National Ballet’s Swan Lake in-the-round: Dancers of English National Ballet, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Gavin Sutherland (conductor). Filmed (directed by Peter Jones) at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 22.6.2024. (JPr)
Dancers included:
Odette / Odile – Sangeun Lee
Prince Siegfried – Gareth Haw
Rothbart – James Streeter
Queen – Jane Haworth
Tutor – Michael Coleman
Lead Swans – Precious Adams, Minju Kang, Anna Nevzorova, Anna-Babette Winkler
Creatives:
Music – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography and Direction – Derek Deane
Design – Peter Farmer
Lighting design – Howard Harrison
Before actually seeing this ‘in-the-round’ Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall some years ago, all I knew about a ballet performance such as this was from the opening episode of BBC 4’s 2011 fly-on-the-wall documentary about the English National Ballet called Agony & Ecstasy (and still available on YouTube). It focused on rehearsals for Swan Lake at the Albert Hall and was infamous for the choreographer, Derek Deane, acting up for the cameras and out-Horwooding even the great pantomime villain of dance, Craig Revel of that surname. Interestingly, ENB (now in its 75th season) will be seen on Sky Arts this Christmas in a new series, Nutcracker: Backstage with English National Ballet. It will show how a much-anticipated new production by artistic director Aaron S Watkin and Olivier Award-winning choreographer Arielle Smith – premiering in Southampton in late November – gets to the stage.
Described as ‘a supersized reimagining of Swan Lake performed in the centre of the arena, with audiences surrounding the stage’, it was first seen at the Albert Hall in 1997; since then it has been a huge success, both when revived in the UK and also put on throughout the world. Even on film it takes a short while to get used to the lack of scenery if compared to the version of Deane’s Swan Lake seen at the London Coliseum and on tour with its chocolate box-like setting also designed by Peter Farmer. There is no real sense of a castle courtyard for Act I (an expanded Prologue) and a few red drapes and chandeliers is all we get for the Act III Great Hall setting. This leave a huge space to be filled by voluminous amounts of dry ice for the Act II and IV ‘otherworldly’ moonlit lakeside scenes, though there are tree silhouettes spotted behind the action.
Most of the atmosphere we get is from Howard Harrison’s lighting which appears surprisingly subtle for such a big performance space. However, the dappled floor would only be appreciated by those higher in the Albert Hall or thanks to director Peter Jones’s overhead camera shots, though the lightning effects which accompany Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, remains very impressive.
The orchestra are in their normal place below the Grand Organ – though higher up – and this leaves a vast area which Deane has to fill with dancers and movement. Looking at it more closely than ever on film he does leave quite a bit to the audience’s understanding of the story. In its ‘normal version’ which Deane created, at the beginning he shows Rothbart bewitching Princess Odette – for reasons unknown – into becoming a swan by day and returning her back to human form at night. Perhaps this isn’t needed so much ‘normally’ but would actually have been useful ‘in-the-round’ to enhance the storytelling. Unless I missed it, Odette does not (now?) recap her background to Prince Siegfried as we also usually see.
So, we are straight into Prince Siegfried’s birthday celebrations: townsfolk and the ladies and gentlemen of the court enter down the steps through the audience and some russet and olive costumes suggest Romeo and Juliet rather than Swan Lake. If they are not enough, there are also tumblers and jugglers. As ever Act I goes on far too long despite the exuberant contribution of the students of Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and Michael Coleman – now 84 years young – bustling about as Siegfried’s tutor. (In the late 1980s I saw Coleman as a member of The Royal Ballet in the ballet’s Neapolitan Dance at Covent Garden.) Everything is doubled up in numbers or more with a pas de trois becoming a pas de douze! Siegfried enters, leaps a few times and then does very little for the remaining 30 minutes of the act. Initially, Gareth Haw is very smiley – as almost all the dancers are – until he becomes morose after being told by the Queen (a suitably regal Jane Haworth) he must marry.
Finally, Haw gets to dance a melancholic solo variation popularised by Rudolf Nureyev and this is the first real sense of drama that we get in this version. The long-limbed ENB Principal Haw has a suitably princely hauteur, solid technique, studied control, clean landings and good partnering skills. Though like Vadim Muntagirov before him at ENB – whom he resembles – Haw’s dancing lacks the wow factor and he sometimes just throws out his arms.
All Swan Lake really needs is swans and a lake! So, in Act II everything takes off (!) as James Streeter – the eye-catching ‘half-man, half-bird’ Rothbart – flaps his cape-like wings vigorously while rushing through the ‘mist’. This ‘in-the-round’ Act II is basically traditional but celebrated for Deane bringing the audience up to 60 tutu-ed swans to marvel at. (The geometrical choreography for the swans with its well-drilled harmony can be appreciated thanks to Peter Jones’s camerawork from above, though it does seem to turn it all into a Busby Berkeley musical film of the 1930s.) Odette’s spell can only be broken if a man vows to love her and no other and Siegfried makes that vow.
ENB Lead Principal Sangeun Lee – who along with Haw followed Aaron S Watkin from the Semperoper Ballett in Dresden – showed she is a poetic Odette, and her arms are particularly graceful. She truly embodies the pathos of her character’s plight and there is a genuine frisson as she catches sight of Haw’s Siegfried for the first time. However, I see much more in Acts II and IV of a human Odette rather than a swan-like one. I was not entirely convinced either by the chemistry between Lee and Haw despite their previous experience of dancing together.
Act III involves the usual series of supposed international dances, here rather over-inflated, though Haruhi Otani and Rhys Antoni Yeomans catch the eye with their spirited Neapolitan Dance. Then came the familiar Black Swan pas de deux for Siegfried and Odile. When Rothbart and his imposter make their entrance along with two tumbling, bald, gargoyle-like hangers-on, there is absolutely no sense of how he fits in with everyone else at the palace. Lee’s conniving, seductive grin tells us all we needed to know about Odile’s deceit. Despite Lee and Haw having to cover a lot of ground the pas de deux brings out the best in both of them. Lee’s fouettés are show-stopping even though a need to turn to all sides of the auditorium adds to their tremendous challenge.
The emotional heart of the story resides in Act IV as Siegfried begs for forgiveness from Odette for having been conned into swearing true love to Odile. The battle between good and evil reaches its climax as they unite to defeat Rothbart who in a true coup de théâtre flaps his last as the swans circle around and he disappears through the floor. All the swan-maidens appear to be released from Rothbart’s enslavement and Odette and Siegfried kiss, embrace tenderly, and are destined to live happily ever after. The ENB’s captivating swans with their beautifully soft arms, immaculate timing and precise footwork deserve great credit.
What I was hearing through my loudspeakers from the English National Ballet Philharmonic under Gavin Sutherland (now their Principal Guest Conductor), whilst in no way revelatory, sounded as if it maintained ENB’s usual high musical standards. Their account of Tchaikovsky’s rich score helps keep the drama – such as it is – alive, as well as accommodate all the marshalled dancers.
If you have never seen this ‘in-the-round’ ballet spectacular you will never see it better than here on film. It is also the ideal first ballet for younger ones. Derek Deane’s Swan Lake has been captured almost perfectly, so even if you know it, I highly recommend going to your local cinema and watching it again.
Jim Pritchard
For more about English National Ballet’s Swan Lake click here.