Review of Northern Ballet's production of Cleopatra
At first I thought, this is not a ballet.
In the opening scene Cleopatra had distinctly unpointed feet, and her dance with guardian god Wadjet was a series of ice-skating hoists rather than classical ballet.
Yet Martha Leebolt’s skill as a ballerina was not long concealed. As Cleopatra, her pas de deux with lovers Caesar and Mark Antony were bewitchingly sinuous, evoking masterfully the shifting balance of power. Cleopatra (Martha Leebolt) was dominated by Caesar, electrically portrayed by Javier Torres. Leading Mark Antony, (Tobias Batley) with the same moves that Caesar used to lead her, Cleopatra dominated him. Too weak to fall on the sword that Octavian (Hironao Takahashi) gave him in their potent war dance, Mark Antony had to be helped to suicide by Cleopatra.
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| Kenneth Tindall as Wadjet and Martha Leebolt as Cleopatra. Photo Bill Cooper. |
A masterstroke of the production was the decision to add a new character, the guardian god of the Pharaohs, Wadjet, to the cast. As well as performing some breathtaking pas de deux with Cleopatra, Kenneth Tindall's Wadjet served as an outer symbol of Cleopatra's inner state. Portraying her darker impulses as well as her instinct for survival, he inspired her decision to murder Ptolemy and was there as she seduced both Caesar and Antony. When Cleopatra turned against herself, Wadjet became the asp, stabbing Cleopatra with his arm and thus helping her to realise her immortal longings.
Movements and costumes told the story. Once under Cleopatra’s power, Mark Antony was completely stripped of his Roman costume and clothed in fluid Egyptian robes to demonstrate his surrender to the fleshpots of Egypt. Costumes were wonderfully imagined, apart from those of Cleopatra, which resembled swimming costumes rather than queenly robes.
However, the shiny, plastic scenery let the production down. Images projected on the backdrop during important moments were grainy and unrealistic. Moreover, they were unnecessary. A romantic Nile boat trip was evoked so well by blue robed dancers fluidly writing in front of a blue cloth that the projected images of waves became redundant. Martial music and dancers hooded in blood red robes far better conveyed the terror of war between Egypt and Rome, than did the projected fire.
Nevertheless, Claude-Michel Schonberg’s score made up for the deficiency of the scenery. His powerful music merged seamlessly with the dancers’ movements, showing that the composer is not limited to show tunes. Despite obvious musical codes: Egyptians had dreamy flute motifs, Romans had drums, the score sustained the ballet’s high emotion, providing fitting scenery for this tale of lust, war and death
This is an extended version of an article published in the Hull Daily Mail on 18.03.11
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