by Mary Couzens

A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!

Tchaikovsky’s first ballet, Swan Lake is often said to be the most popular ever written and if English National Ballet’s superb production is offered as an example of its enchanting capabilities, it’s easy to understand why.  The choreography and dancing of this production are nothing short of sublime, and those pivotal elements, combined with its visually stunning sets and costumes, juxtaposed against Tchaikovsky’s mythic, archetypal storyline and inexplicably haunting score form a veritable feast for the senses which is apt to leave its lingering dream-like impressions on the consciousness forevermore. 

Lovely Princess Odette (Agnes Oakes) is relaxing in a forest clearing when she is captured by the half-man, half-bird, evil Sorcerer Rothbart (Fabian Reimair) who turns her into a swan. Condemned to reside at the lakeside, Odette becomes just one of many such maidens who have been similarly transformed.  Meanwhile, Prince Siegfried’s (Thomas Edur) birthday celebrations are taking place in the nearby palace gardens, where his mother, the Queen (Jane Haworth) presents him with a handsome golden crossbow.  When a flock of white swans fly overhead, he goes to the lake to see if he can hunt one of them down.

It is a rather humbling experience, watching the two stars of this production Agnes Oakes and Thomas Edur dance their roles, as their passionate grace of movement and demeanour while performing suggest unparalleled levels of focus and dedication to their art.  One tends to conclude that the pair must surely, be counted amongst the most talented and expressive dancers of their era. Both deftly manage to make their emotions crystal clear throughout, without ever lapsing into melodrama. The concluding moments of Swan Lake as performed by Oakes and Edur inspired intense emotional responses on the night we were in attendance, as evidenced by multitudinous, spontaneous shouts of Bravo! from more verbally expressive audience members and silent tear-wiping by others.

However, as is perhaps, truer in this ballet than in any other, the sheer power and talent of the company itself is integral to its overall impact.  For example, as the Sorcerer Fabian Reimair exudes a fierceness that is both threatening and becoming to his role.  And few things could be more beautiful than a snowy white grouping of synchronised ‘swans’ lightly trooping together as if in archetypal triumph over their darkly swooping enchanter. The deft precision with which the ensemble segments of this production are performed is truly, mesmerising! Derek Deane’s choreography; intermingled with intermittent dance sequences contributed by Frederick Ashton is quite simply, a joy to behold!  Peter Farmer’s atmospheric sets are painterly and majestic, moving impressively from forest to lakeside to a palace interior with gothic overtones, complete with arched windows dwindling into a mysteriously ominous vanishing point. With Howard Harrison’s imaginative, transformative lighting shining over all of these aspects, enhancing the ballet’s drifting moods with seemingly, countless shifts of hue and tone, the resulting production becomes truly captivating! 

Thunderous applause for the orchestra, under the commanding direction of Gavin Sutherland rounded off an enthralling evening as the company graciously acknowledged the appreciation of their enthusiastic audience.

This stunningly beautiful production definitely raises the bar in terms of past productions of Swan Lake in my own experience, and shall be for me, as inferred at the outset, the definitive version of the ballet against which future visitations to Tchaikovsky’s land of mythical lakeside enchantment are measured.

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