REVIEW: Birmingham Royal Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty at Mayflower Theatre

Birmingham Royal Ballet are back at Mayflower Theatre with their rendition of the classic ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. BRB’s production of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ was created by Sir Peter Wright, the same man also behind the company’s famous ‘The Nutcracker’ and ‘Swan Lake’. Now lots of people know the story of sleeping beauty, most probably from the 1959 Disney film; but the story is actually one that spans back around 500 years. Carlos Acosta’s (Director) ballet shows the best of the enchanting, classical experience with familiarities for all of the family. To add to the magic, you get to hear Tchaikovsky’s original music played live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia!

One thing I love about BRB’s productions is just the sheer scale of everything. From the set, to costume, to the size of the company and all the extras in-between – nothing is forgotten. It takes the classical layout of a ballet and transports you to what you can only imagine an original ballet in the day was like. Yet it doesn’t feel dated! With ballet companies such as Matthew Bourne’s giving a new contemporary spin on ballet, there’s always potential for the classics to fade away. However from seeing a packed out Mayflower Theatre tonight, I can happily say that this isn’t the case. For those of you that don’t know the fairytale story of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, I’ll give you a very quick run down: a beautiful Princess is cursed by an evil fairy by pricking her finger and falls into a deep, deep sleep. The only way to break this curse is from a Prince’s kiss. It’s a real good defeats evil story – and the way it’s told through ballet is immaculate. 

The Prologue was just beautiful.

This ballet is split into four different sections; Prologue, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. Usually in my reviews I like to sum up what I thought of certain performances or sections within the show, but I think it only right that I give each section its own rundown. However I’d firstly like to give the whole company a huge round of applause and congratulations as they were all flawless. Each dancer left their all on that stage, and the way in which they told this story through only movement was exceptional. So without further ado:

The Prologue was just beautiful. This is the way you start a show and catch the attention of an audience immediately. All of the cast were perfectly in-sync and you could tell how polished and disciplined these dancers must be. This is the set up to the rest of the story we’re about to witness, so it’s also the part of the show that needs to have a lot of information put across and understood. Doing this solely through dance can be challenging for newbies to ballet, but the use of balletic mime literally gave speech to the dance (a little more on this later). The mixed solo and group pieces in this classical format was incredibly impressive, and I loved the shift from light to dark, good to evil. It was beautiful, but then all of a sudden it was beautifully dark. This is of course thanks to the energy of the company, but also the fantastic lighting effects used (more on this later once again). The portrayal of comedy throughout as well was definitely a fun extra.

Act 1 was where we are first introduced to ‘Princess Aurora’ played by the fantastic Yu Kurihara. Yu was outstanding! Aurora is one of the most demanding female leads in classical ballet, and Yu made it look like a piece of cake. As for the rest of the company, it was in this act that I couldn’t stop thinking: ballet dancers aren’t just performers, they’re athletes! The constant tempo change to not only keep attention but also allow the story to flow was not lost either. The change from celebration to darkness was seamless yet again. It was in this act that ‘Princess Aurora’ actually became ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and got her finger pricked. I thought the way in which this was done was incredibly simple but also incredibly effective and easy to follow. If you know the story, I thought the way in which Aurora was led to sleep and locked away in the forest was also extremely effective. 

Fantastic from everybody involved!

Act 2 is where we are introduced to ‘Prince Florimund’ played by Lachlan Monaghan. He showed such a strong stage presence and commanded himself and the story so powerfully. This is the act where we see the Prince first find the Princess and find out that he is in love with her. I think this act was possibly my favourite of them all. Everything fell together perfectly and that really helped paint a vivid picture for me. The high tempo change from the start of the act, dipping when the Prince is trying to get to Aurora, then climbing again when he finally gets her. The effects and set that were used in this act, from the forest to the fog really helped to give an impact onto the story that was being told. 

Finally, Act 3 was probably the most fun of them all. It’s the high note now that good has finally defeated evil. It’s mystical, it’s whimsical, it’s just a good time. After having the perfect opening to the show, this is definitely the perfect ending to the show. There was again a mixture of solo, group and duet dances in a classical format which just flowed wonderfully. If you’re not used to a classical ballet format, this could perhaps feel quite long winded or strung out, but I think that it rounded out the story perfectly and it would have felt odd if it was done any differently. The whole company on the stage together really raised the energy and had you leaving the theatre on a high! Fantastic from everybody involved! The dancers movements were so powerful and strong and the dancing throughout was inspired from all of them.

As I mentioned briefly, the set and design of BRB’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ was perfection. The set was grand, it didn’t change much but it was big and regal which is exactly what it needed to be. The costumes were classic, sometimes crazy, and the way they moved with the dancers was beautiful. I mentioned how I particularly like the forest effect. This again was incredibly simple, it was just some curtains flying in staggered almost looking like giant cargo netting. Seeing the Princess sleeping behind one of these was a fantastic way of doing it. I also mentioned how good the lighting effects were. Every time Carabosse (The wicked fairy) appeared, there was thunder and lighting (and sometimes pyrotechnics). It was also a nice touch to add different coloured spotlights upon different characters depending if they were ‘good’ or ‘bad’. I also loved the fog that was used in act 3, the way it settled on the stage gave the effect that the audience was also lost – after following the feet of the dancers to now not being able to see them. 

This is an amazing classical piece of ballet.

I mentioned earlier about balletic mime as well. If you’ve been to see a ballet before, you’re probably more than aware of certain pieces of mime meaning certain things. However if you’re new to it, you probably wouldn’t have a clue. I just wanted to say how impressed I was to find a little ‘balletic mime code’ in the programme! This would really help any audience member follow the story a little bit better. It’s also worth noting that for the kids (and adults), there is a comic book style storyboard of exactly what happens within the show. Amazing touch! 

Overall, this is an amazing classical piece of ballet. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia were the cherry on the cake. The whole company are insanely talented and you can really tell how much work they put into polishing their performances. This isn’t just dance, it’s a story that is being told. The ballet can be quite daunting to just try and follow along with and know what’s going on, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this is the same. However, I think BRB have done a fantastic job at opening this up to everybody and helping them out; old and young, ballet connoisseur or newbie. This is a show for the whole family and I think you’ll love it if you’ve already seen a ballet, but I think you should also give BRB a go if you’ve never seen a ballet. I wish everybody involved with BRB’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ the best of luck, as it leaves Mayflower Theatre on the 10th February before carrying on on its UK tour.