Grand Canal Theatre
SOMETIMES A ballet performance comes perfectly formed, radiating energy and lucidity. So it was with the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s performance of Coppelia with the additional gift of technical finesse and gaiety.
Sir Peter Wright’s production for the company, on its maiden voyage to Dublin, exuded a jaunty confidence from the opening notes of Delibes vivid score from the seamless Royal Ballet Sinfonia. setting the scene for the tale of gentle mischief involving a mechanical doll and her eccentric creator.
A luminous, animated Carole, Anne Millar in the role of Swanilda/Coppelia, the youthfully exuberant Joseph Caley as Franz, her fiance with a roving eye, and a splendidly expressive Rory Mackay as the toymaker Dr Coppelius, were joined by an ensemble of equal vivacity in Peter Farmar’s detailed and embracing east European village staging.
Wright’s own choreographic interventions simply offered opportunities for stylish dances rather than reinterpreting the longstanding mix of Cecchetti and Petipa. In the opening act, there were his colourful folkloric mazurkas, with flashing footwork by the dancers in green and red leather boots and a scene-stealing solo by Gaylene Cummerfield as a flirtatious gypsy working her charms on the easily led Franz.
The production moved quickly to the heart of the matter; a simple deception unfolds in the setting of the toymaker’s workshop, allowing the ever-spirited Swanilda to comically confront Franz with his infatuation with a mechanical doll and to delude Dr Coppelius into imagining his scientific endeavours have brought his beloved Coppelia doll to life.
Here, Millar was outstanding, her blank expression and controlled spasmodic angular leg and arm movements are in such contrast to her fluency and range as Swanilda; if there is a minor quibble, her Scottish doll dance might need a tad more Highland air.
By act three, we moved into a new theatrical realm which exuded an almost spiritual air in Peter Tiegen’s atmospheric, misty lighting design.
The divertissement pieces allowed the company to show its strengths and Millar and Caley’s Peace duet to exhibit a series of brilliant jumps, fouettes, athletic spins and lifts.
Even the hapless Dr Coppelius found solace under Wright’s kind direction.
This was a classy, effortless and fun production from Ninette De Valois’ Sadlers Wells Ballet reincarnated, and with a large and excellent repertoire at their command, there are many reasons why Birmingham Royal Ballet should return soon.
