Culture writer Atshiga Bonvin reviews La Fille Mal Gardee finding it to be a beautifully crafted production filled with pastels, humour and romance
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s performance of Frederick Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardee has arrived with grace at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Running on until Saturday 28th September, the ballet is a beautiful and clever merging of romantic elegance and comedic physicality. A pastoral spectacle of love, the story follows Lise (Beatrice Parma), the daughter of the widowed Simone (Rory Mackay), and Colas (Enrique Bejarnano Vidal), a young farmer, as they fall in love, overcoming obstacles in the rural English countryside.
The performance brings a theatrical accessibility that ballet usually lacks. With its pastel yet gaudy colours, and the dancers’ often comical physicality, the adaptation holds a pantomine-esque element whilst remaining blissful, furthered through the cross-dressing of the character, Simone. Frederick Aston’s choreography brings a swooping airiness to the performance, emphasised by the light, pastoral set of the idealised countryside.
Frederick Aston’s choreography brings a swooping airiness to the performance, emphasised by the light, pastoral set of the idealised countryside.
Elegant romantic sequences occur throughout the performances. Carried by the breeze of romance, Parma and Vidal float along the Hippodrome air. Split into three acts, the ballet allows all characters the space to express their elegant physically. Whether that is comedic or romantic, it is the theatrical expressionisms of the dancers that carries the show.
Accompanied by the beautiful sounds of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, the orchestra works seamlessly with the ballet dancers. Comedic beats are created effortlessly, marrying the graceful dances depicting the romance of Lise and Colas, with the humorous subplots of Simone and Lise’s prospective husband, the dim-witted Alain. Here, the dancers tap into a Charlie Chaplin-esque physicality to convey humour.
the orchestra works seamlessly with the ballet dancers
Dancing chickens, adorable ponies, indelible ribbon sequences, and yellow clogs, can all be found in La Fille Mal Gardee. It is a ballet like no other. This production is wonderfully crafted and if you have the chance you must go and explore the beautiful world created by the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Rating – 4/5
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