Just two works, created in 1964 and 1965 respectively a wonderful time for the company. The Dream is by our greatest choreographer, Frederick Ashton, in his prime; Song of the Earth by Kenneth MacMillan at the peak of his creative originality. Why on earth are only five performances scheduled?Few people thought much of The Dream at its premiere. It seemed conventional and old-fashioned, a potboiler filling out a programme to honour Shakespeare's 400th birthday, and overshadowed by more startling works on the same bill Well, it has endured and they have not. With hindsight, we see that Ashton set his ballet in Victorian guise as suiting Mendelssohn's music and allowing him innumerable stylistic allusions and jokes in the choreography. Thank goodness he did not try to translate the whole play into dance: just the heart of Oberon and Titania's love story, deeper than usual, counterpointed by the highly comic mishaps of the two human couples. The dancing is amazingly inventive; the comedy is essentially part of it, not a separate add-on.What a joy to have it back; it would have been even more so if less broadly produced.
Ashton's roles don't need this exaggeration, the drama and character are all in the choreography. And David Walker's revised designs are no help: even Johan Kobborg's Oberon, ideally danced, gets partly hidden under all the frippery. An interestingly sexy Titania from Leanne Benjamin (what a leering smile!), and a funny, intelligent Hermia from Zenaida Yanowsky; but the intricate, fluttery corps de ballet dances need more exactness.Good, lively playing, though, from the ROH Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth, and likewise for Mahler in Song of the Earth, with Natascha Petrinsky fine as the mezzo soloist and Thomas Randle, in ringing, committed form, even better as the tenor.This is certainly MacMillan's best ballet, made when he had developed full command of his inventiveness and before he got bogged down in a supposed need for three-act blockbusters. Like The Dream, it lasts about an hour an ideal length in both cases. Song of the Earth has no padding, no mime; all the drama comes from music, song and movement. Implied, but never spelled out, are many aspects of human nature: love, death, fun, fear, beauty and duty.The ballet is austere in presentation but totally gripping, and had a wonderful account of the long central role from Tamara Rojo.
In its 35-year life, I have seen only two other dancers perform it at this level: Marcia Haydee, who created it, and Natalia Makarova. The three of them couldn't be more different, but they have absolute understanding, commitment and clarity in common.Rojo shows you tears not by weeping but by dancing them. Carlos Acosta is great, too, as the Messenger of Death: icy in outline but warmly sympathetic in manner, and Mara Galeazzi and Ricardo Cervera also stand out in a good cast.John PercivalTo 31 May (020 7304 4000). Did you," asked the bright young woman from the BBC, "have to rein in your natural masculinity in order to enjoy the books?" We blinked at this, we three macho types.
