"Isadora," "Dances at a Gathering"
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House
London, England
11 March - 21 March, 2009
by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2009 by Judith Cruickshank
Monica Mason doesn't give up easily on something she believes in. Earlier this season she allowed Will Tuckett's production of "The Seven Deadly Sins" a further run of performances, despite the lack of enthusiasm with which it was initially received. Now we are presented with a new version of Kenneth MacMillan's Isadora, almost universally - and in my view understandably - disliked at its full-evening premiere in 1981 and dropped from the Royal Ballet repertory soon after.
With a commissioned score by Richard Rodney Bennett and designs by Barry Kay, the original "Isadora" was a sprawling epic based on Isadora Duncan's own overblown and partly fictitious memoirs. Early in the creative process MacMillan decided to add speech into the ballet and eventually split the title role between Merle Park and the actress Mary Miller.
At the time of the premiere much was made by supporters of the ballet of its experimental nature and it was suggested that dance critics were too blinkered to appreciate its qualities. But the drama critic of The Times, the highly distinguished Irving Wardle, was no more enthusiastic when invited to review a performance. In interviews prior to the premiere of this new version Deborah MacMillan, the choreographer's widow who has been responsible for its production and setting, claimed that the technical limitations of the Royal Opera House at that time prevented the choreographer from realising his vision.
Well, that may be so. But having sat through the original "Isadora" more times than I would wish, I would say that the major flaw of the 1981 ballet remains in this new production: namely that it gives no impression of Duncan as either a great dancer or an extraordinary personality. Nor is it at all clear in what light MacMillan considered her, other than as a peg on which to hang a series of his trademark rolling, groping, grappling pas de deux.
Lasting just about an hour, this production dispenses with the on-stage actress and the huge moving curtains of the original in favour of a voice-over commentary and a black box set. What we do have is a great deal of archive film put together by the former Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet dancer Lynne Wake and her husband, Christopher Bird. Indeed, for the first quarter of an hour or so it seemed as if we were watching a film show with a few interpolated dances, and sadly, the film proves more interesting.
We see and hear Isadora in her early days her arrival in Paris and a spoken episode in which she praises the artistry of Loie Fuller, illustrated by a wonderful contemporary film clip of Fuller in performance. But MacMillan's choreography presents Fuller as a ridiculous figure in a ginger fright wig, surrounded by titupping girls. What are we supposed to think?
We then see Isadora with Edward Gordon Craig in a duet which has him rolling her around the floor grasping her wide-spread legs by the ankles, and then arriving in Russia together with Craig and her adopted daughter Irma, only to see the coffins of the victims of Bloody Sunday being carried past. In fact, Isadora and Craig reached St Petersburg 11 days after the massacre, although to be sure, the horror of the events would clearly have been a major topic in the city.
We then embark on a rapid slide show of her life. Craig deserts her, Paris Singer arrives on the scene, she travels incessantly, her children are drowned, she travels some more, meets a handsome stranger on the beach, becomes pregnant, gives birth watched by Craig, Singer and the man on the beach, the baby dies. Singer leaves her, she travels some more, dances the Marseillaise to a chorus of recorded booing, denounces jazz and the Charleston, then rushes up a ramp to where the fatal Bugatti is parked, climbs into it, the car rolls down the ramp, curtain.
As Isadora Tamara Rojo does her heroic best, but she is hampered by the fact that MacMillan has provided no real context for the role and the character comes across as no more than a self-obsessed phony and truly tiresome woman (which last she probably was). Nor does he give us any idea of how she danced. Certainly one can recognise poses and attitudes from the many drawings that were made of Duncan dancing, but there is no sense of how she moved between those moments, and Richard Rodney Bennett's pastiches of the music to which she danced, further detract. Never do you get the sense that Duncan was a serious artist, no matter how undisciplined her private life.
Genuine Duncan choreography does exist; some of it had even been seen in London before the ballet's 1981 premiere, but seemingly MacMillan chose not to explore it.
The male characters fare even worse, being merely cardboard cutouts, although Edward Watson as Craig and Gary Avis as Singer give the roles more passion and commitment than they probably deserve. As the 'Man on the beach' (in fact the sculptor Romano Romanelli) Brian Maloney fares somewhat better, being required to do nothing more than look handsome and partner Rojo. After all, in her memoir Duncan dismisses him in barely a page.
I can't feel that this revival has done anything to either redeem the full-evening Isadora or for MacMillan's reputation. It certainly fails to treat its subject with anything like the seriousness due to a dancer and choreographer who was praised by so many of the leading artists of her day, Michael Fokine and Tamara Karsavina not least among them.
The second part of the programme brought the opportunity for another viewing of Jerome Robbins's "Dances at a Gathering," revived for the Royal Ballet in 2008. With several of last season's cast unavailable, there were a number of debuts. Watson replaced Federico Bonelli who is injured, dancing with considerable authority in the Green role and seemingly relishing the opportunity to be on stage without being required to go mad, abuse or murder someone. Bennet Gartside took over from Martin Harvey in Purple, Harvey having left the Royal Ballet for the musical theatre.
Neither Alina Cojocaru nor Marianela Nuňez was available to dance the girl in Pink, so young Yuhui Choe took over, dancing prettily but without showing much personality or, more seriously, musicality.
I find Johan Kobborg too lightweight and too anxious to win over the audience to be really satisfactory in the Brown role. It needs more gravitas and introspection. Kobborg had a bad footwear moment as well after his initial solo his brown boots were replaced with the black and gold numbers he wears in "Swan Lake." Not a good look.
The most satisfying performances came from Laura Morera (Apricot) and Sergei Polunin (Brick), the sweet-faced Johannes Stepanek (Blue) and from Leanne Benjamin. In Violette Verdy's old role as the girl in Green she brought a real sparkle to the proceedings, flirting dangerously with the music and the dance, only just avoiding the perils of going too far; something Isadora Duncan never learned to do.
