★★★½

“a varied and defiant show”

On 24 February 2022 Vladimir Putin launched his ‘special operation’ in Ukraine, launching missiles and sending in tanks to the city of Kyiv. Less than 24 hours prior, Kyiv City Ballet had left to start what was to be a three week tour of France. More than 18 months later the special operation is a full blown war and the company has yet to return home.

This September, Kyiv City Ballet is at the Peacock Theatre in London with a mixed bill – A Tribute to Peace. It’s a greatest hits programme of peaks and lulls, with some run of the mill renditions of crowd-pleasing favourites and other more self-assured performances. Extracts come from an impressive range of 19th and early 20th century ballets with such cannonic pieces as The Dying Swan, created for Anna Pavlova in 1907, and scenes from La Bayadere and Le Corsaire.

Somewhat surprisingly, the programme reflects the influence of the ballet masters of the Russian Imperial Ballet, now known as Mariinsky Ballet where the company’s founder and Director Ivan Kozlov was premier. Last spring, following the invasion, many dancers left the hallowed institution of the Mariinsky either in protest or out of fear, as theatres in Europe cancelled touring productions from the company. With at least half of the programme works choreographed by former Imperial Ballet heads Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa, it’s a subtle nod to the power of art to transcend politics, as well as speak to it.

“Soloist Vladyslav Bosenko is simply wonderful to watch”

Principal Kateryna Floria presents the classics and handful of more modern pieces with strength and style. Appearing experienced and self-assured, her performance of Servant of the Muse with Artem Shoshyn is particularly delightful, showing off her power by pushing away the man clearly enamoured with her. Her beautiful olive green costume in this piece against a more abstract projected backdrop compared to the twee graphics and sparse set and props throughout the rest of the show also makes this piece the most visually striking.

Kristina Kadashevych and Oksana Bondarenko handle the most traditional pieces sweetly and sincerely without too much drama. Stella Fedorovych is a surprise force, charging the stage with her Laurencia (variation). The Spanish flamenco style costume and lively music are matched by her explosive leaps and joyous expressions.

Soloist Vladyslav Bosenko is simply wonderful to watch in the Le Corsaire and Talisman pas-de-deux that sandwich the interval. He lights up the stage, maintaining an enviable suspension as he leaps and bounds, making use of every inch of space the stage has to offer. Chudovsky Mykyta’s performance in Ostap from Taras Bulba draws a battle line for the title of highest jumper. Coming across like more of a gymnast, his split leaps are accompanied by slapping of his feet against a backdrop of a golden wheat field against the clear blue sky.

Were it not for the stroke of luck that meant these men left Kyiv the day before the invasion, they would not be here on this stage. The final piece, Men of Kyiv, feels a celebration of that as much as a tribute to the men left to fight. A poignant ending to a varied and defiant show.

COMPOSITOR E at the Omnibus Theatre

★★★

“It’s a fascinating concept – well researched and historically accurate”

Who owns our stories? And how is meaning imbued in them? Marking 400 years since the printing of Shakespeare’s first folio, Compositor E, an original story and script by Charlie Dupré, explores the collective endeavour of its publication. We get beyond Shakespeare as singular genius and instead learn, directly and indirectly, about the role of King James I in the development of Macbeth, the printer Isaac Jaggard and compositors Richard and John who arrange the type for the first folio.

It’s a fascinating concept – well researched and historically accurate. There was a real 17-year-old John Leason who started an apprenticeship with Jaggard in 1622. Scholars have dubbed him compositor e, ranked fifth compared to the other compositors due to his inaccuracy and difficulties dealing with the manuscript copy. The play opens in the midst of the printing process in Jaggard’s printing house when John Leason arrives for his first day. It’s farcical seeing Leason thrown in at the deep end by a stretched and stressed Jaggard whilst Richard Bardolph, another compositor, winds him up. Leason is a fast learner and soon gets promoted to deciphering the manuscripts into type when Richard falls ill. But Jaggard’s advice that the compositor leaves a mark goes to John’s head, and he’s left thinking about making changes to correct, in his view, the wrongs that have been done to the women in the story, drawing on the wrongs that were done to his own mother.

The piece includes high calibre performances from the three main cast members. Tré Medley as John Leason plays both the naivete and dark underlying trauma with concentrated intensity. David Monteith as Richard Bardolph brings light relief, with his evenly-paced, booming voice and physical humour; pissing into a chamber pot and spewing up on stage. Kaffe Keating, for me, is the standout of the cast, playing the busy head of the family company trying to make a name for himself in his father’s absence with maturity and depth.

“Set and costume design are beautifully interpreted”

Medley has possibly the most challenging role of the three due to his character’s flighty and inconsistent nature. He goes from inexperienced apprentice, to plotting against his boss, to then packing up to leave in unbelievably quick succession, although Medley handles these well. What can’t be made up for is a lack of exposition in terms of his motivation. It’s clear early on that something around the circumstances of his mother’s death is haunting Leason, but it’s not until the final scenes of the piece that we start to unpick what happened, and why that drives his fixation on whether the women of Macbeth are wayward or weyard. Given so much of the tension of the piece derives from this – the audience needs to know, sooner, what’s going on.

Three female cast members use stylised movement to operate the printing press and mix the ink, evoking the three witches, or wayward sisters, of Macbeth. Given the plays strong critique of the treatment of women in witch hunts under James I’s reign – it would have been appropriate for there to be more speaking female characters, rather than them being an addendum to the main action.

Set and costume design (Sophia Pardon) are beautifully interpreted. All action takes place in the workshop and so the stage is covered with ink stains on the floor, across clothes and up the papyrus-coloured walls. Words spelt out by Leason are projected onto printed sheets suspended across the stage. The closing monologue is also supported by an intricate video projection (Rachel Sampley) that adds, alongside the musical crescendo (Adam McCready), to the sense of an earth-shaking moment with the publication of the first folio.

Compositor E has an original and inspired concept, brought to life by its talented cast and creatives. More internal consistency and earlier explanation of its main character’s motives would elevate this to greater heights.

Tag Archives: Amber Woodward

Kyiv City Ballet – A Tribute to Peace

★★★½

Peacock Theatre

KYIV CITY BALLET – A TRIBUTE TO PEACE at the Peacock Theatre

★★★½

“a varied and defiant show”

“Soloist Vladyslav Bosenko is simply wonderful to watch”

KYIV CITY BALLET – A TRIBUTE TO PEACE at the Peacock Theatre

Reviewed on 26th September 2023

by Amber Woodward

Photography (from previous production) by Andy Weekes

Previously reviewed at this venue:

House of Flamenka | ★★★★ | September 2022

Machine de Cirque | ★★★★★ | June 2022

Kyiv City Ballet

Kyiv City Ballet

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Compositor E

★★★

Omnibus Theatre

COMPOSITOR E at the Omnibus Theatre

★★★

“It’s a fascinating concept – well researched and historically accurate”

“Set and costume design are beautifully interpreted”