★★★★

“It is a wonder, without a doubt, and delightfully potty”

Australian company Circa has intertwined the myths of Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling to create a muscular and gasp-inducing circus ballet that is rich in both beauty and spectacle.

“D-u-c-k!” one is tempted to shout, seeing the toned performers flung perilously across the expansive stage of the Royal Festival Hall. This is where art, performance and extreme physicality come together to push back the boundaries of what’s possible in the bruising realm of acrobatic storytelling.

As the performers swing from billowing wraps, make towers that almost touch the lighting rigs, tumble from ridiculous heights, and twist bodies until surely they must break, there are sharp intakes of breath across the auditorium – along with sympathetic twinges in dozing deltoids. Meanwhile, somewhere in a corner of the Southbank Centre, a health and safety manager is having a quiet meltdown.

These are daffy ducks. They are dexterous ducks, dazzling ducks and, above all, daring ducks.

Here’s the story in outline, taking the ornithological inexactitude of the original and giving it a tweak and twist.

At a palace celebration for the Prince’s birthday, the revelry ends abruptly. The Prince meets the Ugly Duckling, and with Cupid’s intervention, they fall in love. However, their romance is overshadowed by societal barriers. Instead, the more suitable and wily Black Swan captivates the Prince’s heart.

But fortunes change when the Ugly Duckling discovers she is, in fact, a swan herself. And here comes the modern twist – it is the Black Swan and White Swan, two sapphic swans a-swooning, who fall in love, leaving the Prince in a flap.

It’s best to know the rudiments of the story going in. This wordless show is about the sheer artistry and physicality of the human form (those mince pies seeming twice as inhibiting now). But the whispers around the auditorium suggest the youngsters like to know roughly what’s going on and who’s who.

And then, after the climactic nuptials comes the coda, the extended – and probably unnecessary – third act. The swansong, if you will. Once the story is wrapped up, we’re given a meta-view of the performers, stripping off and breaking down the set. In Fame School bursts of exuberance, everyone has a last chance to do a party piece. It gets a little raunchy here, but tongue-in-cheek.

Director Yaron Lifschitz has it right when he calls this superior mix “something new – neither quite ballet nor circus… moving yet accessible”.

It is a wonder, without a doubt, and delightfully potty.

This Christmas, make a change and put duck on the menu.

KARINA CANELLAKIS CONDUCTS SCHUMANN & BRUCKNER at the Royal Festival Hall

★★★★

“An exhilarating central Scherzo is the highlight of the work”

The symphony orchestra is the apotheosis of classical music. A large number of first-class musicians in their own right – the London Philharmonic Orchestra – unite together to play as one under the keen ears of their Leader Pieter Schoeman and the baton of their Principal Guest Conductor, Karina Canellakis.

This concert by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall is part of ‘Moments Remembered’ – an ongoing series of concerts inspired by Jeremy Eichler’s book Time’s Echo in which the author suggests that music is a medium of memory forming a bridge to the past, allowing the listener to connect with things gone by. In which case, this concert takes us back to mid nineteenth century Germany.

It is a traditional symphony concert in its Overture, Concerto, Symphony format; a concert of two halves with the gentle inner passion of Robert Schumann offset by the grandiose fervour of Anton Bruckner (celebrating his bicentenary this year). Schumann’s Overture, Manfred, is music written to accompany Byron’s play – the hero, a wanderer haunted by a committed crime that he cannot remember. The tragic poignancy is well portrayed by the orchestra despite some initial doubts within the ensemble from the horns. Canellakis conducts with spirit and spiky elbows, her exaggerated beat perhaps more than necessary for something so intimate. The violins seated in classical format with the firsts and seconds facing each other sound especially lush during their antiphonal passages. The Concerto swiftly follows with renowned cellist Truls Mørk as the soloist. The work is not a true concerto as such. Three linked movements play without a break and the cello line seems to imitate a vocal song cycle in its melodic movement. Mørk’s playing is delightful. His sonorous and lyrical sound soars through the pared-back orchestral texture – often just string accompaniment. His rich and velvety bass tones are especially pleasing, so deep and unexpected. There are few changes in tempo and despite the markings of “not too fast – slowly – very lively” everything is taken at a rather pedestrian pace, which concentrates on the lyricism of the work rather than the virtuosic. Mørk treats us to an encore treat with a beautiful and poignant rendition of the Sarabande from the Second Bach Suite – staying with the German theme but taking us a further century back in the collective musical memory.

Into the second half of the concert and the orchestra near doubles in size. Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony is a gargantuan work of five movements over an hour in length and Canellakis’ conducting style comes into its own. She provides a clear beat to keep the rousing brass in check and perfectly holds everything together. Titled ‘Romantic’ the initial programme note for the work talks of misty medieval scenes, chivalric knights and hunting scenes and those images are there for the taking if wanted. Certainly, the horn calls hint at such, in passages which may have kept the soloist awake at nights in anticipation. There are dramatic shades of light and dark, contrasted well, and rousing brass passages. In the second movement it is the viola section that has a rare opportunity to take the limelight, and they are excellent, rising to the occasion in a repeated extended solo with plucked accompaniment from the other strings. An exhilarating central Scherzo is the highlight of the work, the brass again letting rip, before a lengthy final movement summarises what has gone before and ends uncertainly.

The LPO has to delve into an understanding of the German spirit for this programme, something English orchestras often fail to do, but Karina Canellakis is clearly showing them the way and they are looking and sounding great together.

Tag Archives: Royal Festival Hall

DUCK POND

★★★★

Royal Festival Hall

DUCK POND

Royal Festival Hall

★★★★

“It is a wonder, without a doubt, and delightfully potty”

DUCK POND

Royal Festival Hall

Reviewed on 19th December 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Pia Johnson

Previously reviewed at Southbank venues:

MARGARET LENG TAN: DRAGON LADIES DON’T WEEP | ★★★★ | May 2024

MASTERCLASS | ★★★★ | May 2024

FROM ENGLAND WITH LOVE | ★★★½ | April 2024

REUBEN KAYE: THE BUTCH IS BACK | ★★★★ | December 2023

THE PARADIS FILES | ★★★★ | April 2022

DUCK POND

DUCK POND

DUCK POND

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KARINA CANELLAKIS CONDUCTS SCHUMANN & BRUCKNER

★★★★

Royal Festival Hall

KARINA CANELLAKIS CONDUCTS SCHUMANN & BRUCKNER at the Royal Festival Hall

★★★★

“An exhilarating central Scherzo is the highlight of the work”