“What restoration, what revival? Our standard already flies on Mount Olympus! […] We stand shoulder to shoulder. There is no acid between the artists. Our answer to all that has happened at the Bolshoi is the dance which the artists bring on to the stage.” – Sergei Filin in the Telegraph last week.
Continue reading “The Agony and the Ecstasy: The Bolshoi Ballet returns to London”
In 2011, Akram Khan premiered his solo show DESH, a work that was instantly hailed the masterpiece of his career so far, and one that put him at the forefront of contemporary choreography and dance on an international scale. In the intervening years, Khan has performed at the Olympic Opening Ceremony with Emeli Sandé- an emotive tribute to the victims of the 7/7 Bombings that was controversially excluded from American coverage of the ceremony- and been awarded an MBE. Continue reading “Akram Khan’s DESH at Sadler’s Wells”
Rahila Gupta’s ‘Don’t Wake Me- The Ballad of Nihal Armstrong’ is a phenomenally powerful dramatic work, just opened at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone. The play takes the form of a dramatic monologue; a hard-hitting and relentless account of one mother’s true struggle for her disabled son’s rights. Continue reading “Don’t Wake Me-The Ballad of Nihal Armstrong at the Cockpit Theatre”
Pop-Up Opera’s Don Pasquale is a production that bursts with life, reflective of both the tensions and excitement of the libretto, and of the energy of Donizetti’s composition. What allows this particular production to really stand out is the fact that Pop-Up Opera, founded in 2011 by Clementine Lovell, brings the characters and their relationships clambering into the modern day with great comic touches that underscore the tensions between the characters on stage. Continue reading “Pop-Up Opera’s Don Pasquale at The Sun Tavern”
Last week, Performance Reviewed went to see the London première of Northern Ballet’s breathtaking adaptation of The Great Gatsby at Sadler’s Wells, a production choreographed and directed by David Nixon, with co-direction by Patricia O’Doyle. Amidst the glittering visuals and evocative music by the late Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Tobias Batley (Jay Gatsby) and Martha Leebolt (Daisy) delivered performances that left the audience in raptures. Continue reading “Exclusive: Behind the Scenes of Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby with Tobias Batley, Martha Leebolt and Lily Amy”
