The Winter's Tale (ballet)

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The Winter's Tale
Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon
Music Joby Talbot
Based on The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
Premiere10 April 2014 (2014-04-10)
Royal Opera House
Original ballet company The Royal Ballet
Design Bob Crowley

The Winter's Tale is a ballet in three acts choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to a commissioned score by Joby Talbot. The ballet is based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. With scenery and costumes designed by Bob Crowley, lighting designed by Natasha Katz, and special stage effects designed by Daniel Brodie and Basil Twist, it was a co-production of the Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. It was first presented at the Royal Opera House, London, on 10 April 2014. [1] The North American premiere occurred the following year. [2]

Contents

Background

Wheeldon's ballet is a dance version of William Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale (1609–11), considered by scholars one of his "problem plays," difficult to classify as tragedy, comedy, romance, or a combination of all three. The first three of its five acts are filled with intense psychological drama; the last two are lighthearted and comedic, concluding with a happy ending. It tells a complicated story of jealousy, loss, love, joy, redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Shakespeare chose his title to signify to his audiences that the play was like a tale told in company gathered by a fireside on a winter's evening. A fictional invention—not true, but entertaining and morally instructive. [3]

The story

Leontes, king of Sicilia, is possessed by a mad jealousy, believing that his pregnant wife Hermione is having an affair with his childhood friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia. He orders that Hermione's infant daughter be abandoned. Hermione and their young son Mamillius die of distress, and Leontes is overcome with remorse. The baby is found by a shepherd in Bohemia and named Perdita ("the lost one"). Sixteen years pass. Perdita falls in love with Florizel, son of Polixenes, who returns her affections and proposed marriage. Polixenes is outraged that his princely son intends to marry a commoner and is consumed by fury. Florizel and Perdita, pursued by Polixenes, seek refuge in Sicilia at the court of Leontes. Perdita is recognized, Hermione returns from the dead, and the family is reunited.

Casts

RoleCharacter DescriptionWorld premiereNorth American premiere
King LeontesKing of Sicilia Edward Watson Piotr Stanczyk
Queen HermioneQueen of Sicilia, Leontes' wife Lauren Cuthbertson Hannah Fischer
King PolixenesKing of Bohemia Federico Bonelli Harrison James
PaulinaHermione's lady in waiting Zenaida Yanowsky Xiao Nan Yu
Princess PerditaLeontes's and Hermione's daughter Sarah Lamb Jillian Vanstone
Prince FlorizelPolixenes's son Steven McRae Naoya Ebe
AntigonusPaulina's husbandBennet Gartside
MamilliusLeontes's and Hermione's sonJoe Parker
Polixenes' StewardPolixenes' servantThomas Whitehead
Father ShepherdPerdita's adoptive father Gary Avis
Brother ClownPerdita's adoptive brotherValentino Zucchetti
Young ShepherdessBrother Clown's girlfriend Beatriz Stix-Brunell

Critical reception

Upon its world premiere at the Royal Opera House, The Winter's Tale was well received by dance critics. Judith Mackrell of The Guardian gave the ballet four out of five stars and praised the ballet as "one of most fully achieved story ballets to be created at the Royal in years." [4] Writing for the Financial Times , Clement Crisp also awarded the ballet four out of five stars and highlighted the individual performances of the lead dancers. [5] Luke Jennings, writing in The Guardian , said that the ballet, although dramatically flawed, was "for the most part a ravishing success" and was definitely "a ballet to keep." [6]

Videography

A performance by the original cast can be seen on Opus Arte DVD 1156D. Directed for the screen by Ross MacGibbon, it was recorded at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2014. In light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performing arts, the recording was released online. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Winters Tale</i> Play by Shakespeare

The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays" because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comic and supply a happy ending.

The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 by artistic director Hope Muir. Renowned for its diverse repertoire, the company performs traditional full-length classics, embraces contemporary work and encourages the creation of new ballets, as well as the development of Canadian dancers and choreographers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joby Talbot</span> Musical artist

Joby Talbot is a British composer. He has written for a wide variety of purposes and an accordingly broad range of styles, including instrumental and vocal concert music, film and television scores, pop arrangements and works for dance. He is therefore known to sometimes disparate audiences for quite different works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Wheeldon</span> English ballet choreographer

Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet.

Perdita (<i>The Winters Tale</i>) Character in The Winters Tale

Perdita is one of the heroines of William Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. She is the daughter of Leontes, King of Sicilia, and his wife Hermione.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zenaida Yanowsky</span> Spanish ballet dancer

Zenaida Yanowsky, Lady Keenlyside, is a French-born Spanish ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London.

Florizel (<i>The Winters Tale</i>) Character in The Winters Tale

Florizel is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leontes</span> Character in The Winters Tale

King Leontes is a fictional character in Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. He is the father of Mamillius and husband to Queen Hermione. He becomes obsessed with the belief that his wife has been having an affair with Polixenes, his childhood friend and King of Bohemia. Because of this, he tries to have his friend poisoned, has his wife imprisoned, and orders his infant daughter to be cast out. The daughter, Perdita, survives nonetheless when she is discovered in her basket on the coast of Bohemia by shepherds who adopt and raise her. His young son dies of grief at his mother's plight, and Hermione faints on hearing the news and is reported dead. Leontes comes to understand his faults, and is filled with remorse for his ill-treatment of his Queen. At the end of the play, he is reunited with daughter and his wife, who returns from death in the play's mysterious finale.

Edward Watson MBE is a British ballet dancer. He is a principal dancer and coach with the Royal Ballet in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatriz Stix-Brunell</span> American ballet dancer (born 1993)

Beatriz Eugenia Stix-Brunell is an American ballet dancer. Her career started with Morphoses when she was 14. She joined the Royal Ballet in 2010, was promoted to first soloist in 2016, and retired in 2021.

Polyphonia is a one-act ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to music by György Ligeti, costumes designed by Holly Hynes, and was created for the New York City Ballet. It premiered on January 4, 2001 at the New York State Theater. It is regarded as Wheeldon's breakthrough, and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven McRae</span> Australian ballet dancer and tap dancer (born 1985)

Steven McRae is an Australian ballet dancer and tap dancer. He is a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Scarlett</span> British choreographer (1986–2021)

Liam Scarlett was a British choreographer who was an artist in residence with The Royal Ballet and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet. He also choreographed new works for Ballet Black, Miami City Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, the BalletBoyz, English National Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Polish National Ballet, and the Royal Ballet School.

<i>The Winters Tale</i> (1910 film) 1910 American film

The Winter's Tale is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The plot is an adaptation of The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare and requires fore-knowledge of the plot in order to understand the condensed one reel work. The film focuses on the conflict arising from two Kings, one of Bohemia and one of Sicily, during a meeting. Queen Hermione enrages her jealous husband, Leontes, by entertaining Polixenes. Leontes decides to kill him with poison, but the plan is foiled by the courtier tasked with the assassination. For this, Leontes imprisons his wife. Hermione gives birth to a daughter and Leontes orders the baby to die out in the wilderness. Hermione is then brought before the court and apparently dies after interrogation. Fifteen years pass and Polixenes confronts and then secretly follows his son, appearing as he declares his intention to marry a shepherdess. The two lovers seek protection with Leontes, the King of Sicilia. Mourning and repentant for his past actions, Leontes learns the shepherdess is his daughter and blesses the marriage of the lovers. The royal party goes to see a statue of the late queen Hermoine which is revealed to be alive. The cast includes Anna Rosemond, Frank H. Crane and Martin Faust, but the directorial and production credits for the film are unknown. The production was a success for the Thanhouser Company and the film was met with positive reception following its May 27, 1910 release. The film survives in the Library of Congress, but it is missing the final scene of the production. The surviving print suffers from significant deterioration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesca Hayward</span> English ballet dancer and actress

Francesca Hayward is a Kenyan-born English ballet dancer and actress. She is a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in London. In 2019, she starred as Victoria the White Cat in the musical film Cats, an adaptation of the stage musical of the same name.

Wintermärchen is an opera by Philippe Boesmans to a libretto by Luc Bondy and Marie-Louise Bischofberger after Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. It was premiered on 10 December 1999 at La Monnaie in Brussels. The German premiere followed in 2001 at the Staatstheater Braunschweig.

The Winter's Tale is an opera in three acts by Ryan Wigglesworth. The libretto is by the composer, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The opera, in a production directed by Rory Kinnear, and conducted by the composer, was premiered at the English National Opera on 27 February 2017.

Corybantic Games is a ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's "Symposium", with costumes designed by Erdem Moralıoğlu and sets designed by Jean-Marc Puissant. It premiered on 15 March 2018 at the Royal Opera House, danced by The Royal Ballet.

Yugen is a one-act ballet by Wayne McGregor, to Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. The ballet premiered on 15 March 2018 at the Royal Opera House, danced by The Royal Ballet.

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References

  1. "The Winter's Tale". Royal Opera House. Royal Opera House. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  2. "The Winter's Tale". National Ballet of Canada. Archived from the original on 2 November 2015.
  3. William W. Lawrence, Shakespeare's Problem Comedies (New York: Macmillan, 1933), pp. 9-13.
  4. Judith Mackrell, "Royal Ballet: The Winter's Tale, review: A Game-Changer for Wheeldon', The Guardian (London). Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  5. Clement Crisp, "The Winter's Tale, Roya Opera House, London, review," Financial Times (London). Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  6. Luke Jennings, "The Winter's Tale, review: A Ballet to Keep," The Guardian (London), 12 April 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  7. "The Royal Ballet's Lauren Cuthbertson on Her Quarantine Routine and the Upcoming Stream of "The Winter's Tale"". Pointe Magazine. 29 April 2020.