Last night I watched Birmingham Royal Ballet at Malvern Theaters. They performed a double bill of ‘Peter and the Wolf’ & ‘Seasons of our World’. This was my first-time watching Birmingham Royal Ballet so I was very intrigued to see them. I went with the dance school I teach at and my parents as they both had the night off work. We managed to book using the code BRB10 which brought the tickets down to £10 each which is a steal.
The performance is a re-imagined version of Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’, choreographed by Ruth Brill this piece showcases a combination of classical ballet, spoken word and physical theatre. The story is set in an urban environment with scaffolding, graffiti & rubbish scattered around the set, instead of the usual countryside meadow setting. This was also matched with urban street clothing including hoodies, headphones and sunglasses, which is usual costuming for a ballet. The story follows Peter and her animal friends as they defeat the grey wolf. The mix of movement and imagery are well matched to the story. I enjoyed each character’s movement and sound motifs for each character. The add in of a narrator really helped the non-dancers in the audience really engage with the story and also enhanced the storyline. This made the work very accessible to a wide audience.
The company also performed ‘Seasons of our World’ choreographed by company members Laura Day, Kit Holder & Lachlan Monaghan. This work showed the cycles of seasons, changing relationships between human and nature and their positive and negative impacts. I loved the use of lighting design by Peter Tiger during this piece to represent each season. The sound scapes created by the orchestra also really enhanced each season this matched with the ever-changing formations and developing motifs created a beautiful piece. I think Winter was my favorite section with the playfulness of snow and the penguin like shuffling around the stage.
Overall I liked the vast differences between the two pieces but I think the thing that stood out to me was the creativity featured in both pieces from a single flexed foot or quick interchanging turns in ‘Seasons’, to the turned in feet of the duck in or long leg swoops to symbolise the cats tail in ‘Peter and the Wolf’. This performance is off to a few places around the UK so make sure you look out for it. I will add in a link to BRB’s website HERE where you can find all of their upcoming performances.
Thanks for reading,
Chloe May x
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I haven’t been to a ballet in years, this sounds so good! That’s really interesting that they went with an urban theme for Peter and the Wolf, I never would have thought of that!x
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It was very clever! Thanks fro your comment x
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Dance and music with a timeless theme. Delightful
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I have never been to a ballet performance before. It sounds like a wonderful performance! Thank you for sharing your experience x
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Thanks for taking a look c
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This show sounds great! I’ve never been to a ballet before, even though I’m really into theatre, but I feel quite intrigued now. I like the sound of the modern/traditional contrast created by the clothing and the setting in particular. Thank you for sharing ❤
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Yes a lot of ballet companies try and produce a lot more relatable performances now so if your into theatre it’s a good thing to go and watch x
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Glad you enjoyed the shows! For the price you paid, you got a great deal. It is nice when there is a lot of behind the scene actions that gives the performance an extra edge.
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
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This performance sounds amazing and so creative! I absolutely love the ballet and haven’t been in a few years. The last performance I watched was the Nutcracker, performed by the Russian Ballet in Sydney – it was spectacular! Would love to see a ballet set in an urban environment, that sounds so interesting x
Shannen | https://shannenclaire.co.uk
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I would love to watch a Russian ballet their dancers are amazing! It was a good way to make billet better for ‘modern’ audiences. Thanks so much for taking a look Shannen xx
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I’ve never been to a ballet performance before but I would absolutely love to. The Wolf one sounds so cool. I never knew that there were narrators sometimes!
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You would! Very rarely is there an actually narrator but because it was a children’s story the add in was a nice change! Thanks for commenting as always x
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Hi Chloe, thanks for taking the time to share this experience with us! It sounds like it was quite entertaining and I hope to get the chance to see it one day!
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Thanks for taking a look x
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Wow it sounds great! It’s so cool that it followed a more urban theme. I love going to see ballets so I think I would enjoy this xx
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