The Sunday Telegraph - 11.08.2019

28 ***^ Sunday 11 August 2019 The Sunday Telegraph

Arts

Star-crossed lovers:

Paris Fitzpatrick

and Cordelia

Braithwaite in the

title roles of

Matthew Bourne’s

Romeo and Juliet

JOHAN PERSSON

F

or a few agonising

moments during the

press night for Matthew

Bourne’s new dance-

theatre version of Romeo

and Juliet it seemed that

there might be no show to review.

Twenty-five minutes in, the house

lights came on, and there was the

dread sight of the great man himself

coming on stage to make an

announcement. Reece Causton,

playing Mercutio, had injured

himself (a twisted ankle, I

discovered), and we would have to

wait for the stand-in to get ready.

Barely a quarter of an hour later,

the show restarted with a repeat of

the most recent scene – with the

wide-eyed Romeo now having his

civvies removed by the mischievous

trio of Mercutio, his boyfriend

Balthasar, and Benvolio. And, while

you weep for poor Causton, it is a

testament to this piece’s almost

overwhelming power (not to mention

the muscular Mercutio number two,

Ben Brown) that within seconds, it

was as if nothing had happened.

Friday evening’s ultimate success

is also a particular pleasure to report,

because this show feels like such a

big deal. Bourne and his New

Adventures troupe have previously

injected vampiricism into Sleeping

Beauty, re-cracked The Nutcracker,

unleashed a flock of male waterfowl

in Swan Lake and dropped Cinderella

into Blitz-torn London. Prokofiev’s

Romeo and Juliet is the only one of

the five great full-evening Russian

ballet scores that he has previously

shied away from, and it is arguably

the most magnificent of the lot.

The action plays out to Terry

Davies’s smartly pared-down

orchestration of the score, and is set

in the near future, in the “Verona

Institute”. Somewhere between a

psychiatric hospital and a borstal,

this unforgiving place – in Lez

Brotherston’s pitch-perfect set – is

lined with glazed white tiles and

features a raised, prison-like platform

with doors leading off to boys’ and

The Bourne supremacy

Mark Monahan finds the

choreographer’s stirring

new Romeo and Juliet at

Sadler’s Well to be one of

his greatest achievements

girls’ dorms. It is here that Romeo’s

glossy, politico-type parents (the

show’s chief comic relief ) dump their

problem child, only for him soon to

meet another inmate – a certain Juliet.

In one of umpteen digressions from

a traditional Romeo and Juliet, the

action launches (like Prokofiev’s

second suite of music from his score,

as it happens) with the thunderous

musical one-two of the Duke’s Order

and the famous Montagues and

Capulets march. Bourne’s ensemble

choreography here sets up “Verona” as

an emotional pressure-cooker.

Youthfulness is crucial to the show’s

power. Few if any of the performers

here are even out of their 20s, and, for

each town that the production is

visiting, six pre-rehearsed performers,

aged 16-19, are also joining the cast.

The result is an astonishing, explosive,

hormonal energy that blazes from the

stage and seldom, if ever, lets up.

That said, Bourne’s inventiveness

must also take credit: his instincts for

how best to twist the story, use the

stage and redeploy the music don’t

once let him down. Probably the most

striking example is the “social night”

scene. To Prokofiev’s Masks theme, the

inmates, now in dowdy party outfits,

go through the rigidly marionettish

motions of a primitive foxtrot.

But then, the orderlies leave. Paule

Constable’s lighting transforms the

space into something far moodier and

more transporting. And, to the

returning Montagues and Capulets

music, with the cats now away, the

mice essentially try to eat each others’

faces (and more) off, while Romeo and

Juliet stand, enraptured, in the centre.

As the lovers, Paris Fitzpatrick hit

his stride as the evening went on: the

union he formed with Cordelia

Braithwaite’s flawlessly judged Juliet

was intimate and intense, their deaths

quite devastating. Dan Wright proved

a spectacular Tybalt, Daisy May Kemp

was super as both the sympathetic Rev

Bernadette Laurence and Romeo’s

callous ma, and Jackson Fisch

delivered the most impressive dancing

in his deranged Act III solo. A mention,

too, for Hannah Mason as one of three

characters in love with Juliet.

All in all, this is electrifying. A

no-punches-pulled reinvention of a

story that feels scintillatingly new. It is

up there with the smartest, sexiest,

most stirring shows that Matthew

Bourne has ever created – and is there

any higher praise than that?

Until Aug 31.

Tickets: 020

7863 8000;

sadlerswells.com

★★★★★

POP

BLUESFEST

by Neil McCormick

Smooth American soul singer-

songwriter John Legend is the

first major arena headliner

confirmed for this year’s

BluesFest, his only UK show this

year. BluesFest takes place

across five nights in October and

is always a treat for fans of

rhythm and blues-oriented

music. Maverick veteran

songstress Rickie Lee Jones and

neo soul star Raphael Saadiq

will also be performing, with

more stars to be announced.

The O2, London (bluesfest.co.

uk), October 25-27

OPERA

RIGOLETTO

by Rupert Christiansen

One of Verdi’s darkest and most

heartfelt dramas, based on

Victor Hugo’s Le Roi s’amuse,

receives its first Glyndebourne

production in a new staging

directed by Christiane Lutz and

conducted by Thomas Blunt.

Georgian baritone Nikoloz

Lagvilava sings the title role of

the hunchback jester with South

African soprano Vuvu Mpofu as

his innocent daughter Gilda.

Glyndebourne near Lewes

(01273 815000), Oct 11-Nov 2; and

touring to Canterbury, Milton

Keynes, Liverpool, Woking and

Norwich

THEATRE

MARY POPPINS

by Dominic Cavendish

It’s out with Aladdin and in with

Mary Poppins. The top-flight

Sherman Brothers songs from

the much-loved 1964 film were

supplemented in 2004 by Stiles

and Drewe, with the script by

Julian Fellowes (prior to his

major Downton Abbey success).

The result has been seen in the

West End and on Broadway, on

tour too, and now comes back

into town, the wind in its sails

thanks to the popular recent

film sequel starring Emily Blunt.

Zizi Strallen plays the nanny

with the magic touch; Charlie

Stemp, who can hoof and goof

about like no one else, has been

signed up as Bert. Richard Eyre

directs.

Prince Edward Theatre,

London W1 (0844 482 5151),

from Oct 23

CLASSICAL

LAMMERMUIR

FESTIVAL

by Ivan Hewett

It’s not just in the deepest shires

of England that classical festivals

in beautiful rural spaces are to

be found. Scotland boasts two,

including the award-winning

Lammermuir Festival, which

takes place near the picturesque

Lothian coastline. This year’s

programme includes all three

Schubert song-cycles sung by

Roderick Williams and an

Italian double-bill from Scottish

Opera.

Various venues, (0131 473 2000),

Sept 13-22

EXHIBITIONS

WILLIAM BLAKE

by Eleanor Halls

The gallery’s first William Blake

exhibition in a generation will

present the work of the painter,

printmaker and poet within an

immersive recreation of the

room in which he showed his

art in 1809. Featuring 300

original works, this will be the

artist’s largest show in 20 years.

Tate Britain, London SW1

(tate.org.uk), Sept 11-Feb 2 2020

Book now The hottest tickets

GETTY

MUST

BOOK

Sudoku with a twist

Pub Quiz

COMPILED BY GAVIN FULLER

1 Notwithstanding their

names, Broadway Tower

in the Cotswolds (pictured,

right ), Kinnoull Hill Tower

in Perth and Paxton’s Tower

in Carmarthenshire are all

considered to be examples

of what type of building?

2 With an area of 87,806

square miles, which is

the smallest of the states

on mainland Australia?

3 Dr Elizabeth Corday

in ER and River Song in

Doctor Who are among

the notable roles played

by which actress?

4 Natasha Kaplinsky won

the first series of Strictly

Come Dancing in 2003;

which actress was the

show’s second winner

in 2004?

5 What do Mary Gillick,

Arnold Machin, Raphael

Maklouf, Ian Rank-Broadley

and Jody Clark have in

common regarding

British coinage?

6 Which 2017 film, starring

Idris Elba (pictured, below)

as the last gunslinger

Roland Deschain, is based

on a series of novels by

Stephen King?

7 Frank Lampard was

annouced

as the new

manager

of which

football

club last

month?

8 L’Étranger, published in

1942, was the debut novel of

which writer, the first man

born in Africa to win the

Nobel Prize in Literature?

9 The town of Bournemouth

lies between two harbours;

to the west is Poole Harbour

• which harbour lies is to
  its east?

10 Which Berkshire town

is the train in J. M. W.

Turner’s Rain, Steam and

Speed passing through?

11 In Egyptian mythology,

who was the mother of

the god Horus?

12 Which composer

provided the music for

Laurence Olivier’s trilogy of

Shakespeare films Henry V,

Hamlet and Richard III?

13 Which American singer’s

only song in the UK charts

was Cry Me a River which

reached number 22 in 1957

after featuring in the film

The Girl Can’t Help It?

14 Which earldom was

held by Henry VII previous

to him becoming king of

England?

15 In the grounds of which

building is the UK’s oldest-

surviving hedge maze to

be found?

16 The band’s drummer and

co-lead vocalist, who has

been the only constant

member of The Eagles

(pictured, above) since

their formation in 1971?

17 Which two of the

five Roman Catholic

archdioceses in England

are located in London?

More puzzles, games and

brainteasers can be found

inside the Sunday section

Each designed the images of Queen Elizabeth II which have appeared 5 Jill Halfpenny 4 Alex Kingston 3 Victoria 2 Folly ANSWERS 1

Isis 11 Maidenhead 10 Christchurch Harbour 9 Albert Camus 8 Chelsea 7 The Dark Tower 6 on coins since 1953

Southwark and Westminster. 17 Don Henley 16 Hampton Court Palace 15 Richmond 14 Julie London 13 Sir William Walton 12

Bridges over the Thames.Hidden theme:

is away

NEWSPAPER CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR

7 Frank Lampard was

annouced

as the new

manager

of which

football

club last

month?

9 Th

lies b

tothe

• whi
  itsea

10 Wh

is the

Turne

Speed p

11 InEg

whowa

the god

12 Whic

provide

Laurenc

Shakesp

Hamlett

13 Whic

only son

was Cry

reached

after fea

The Girl

14 Whic

held by

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