“The makeup is also important to defining characters, and is incredibly effective and intricate”
Peking Opera, or Jingju as it’s known in China, is an art form which began in the eighteenth century as an amalgamation of several existing traditions. It involves singing, mime, movement, acrobatics and stage combat. It is highly stylised and features four major ‘types’ of performer. There is the Sheng character, or male lead, the Dan, or female lead, the Jing which is the painted face character and the Chou, or clown. Each performer will have studied for up to eight years to achieve the necessary understanding and expertise, and will usually only perform one character type. It’s Opera Jim, but not as we know it. There is little that western opera goers would recognise as a chorus, and there are no duets, almost always everyone sings alone. Actually. it’s not really opera at all, Jingju means ‘capital drama.’
I was lucky enough to be invited to go on a backstage tour before the show. It was fascinating to see the beautiful costumes and props close up and to meet Fan Wu, the Production Coordinator and Kevin Zhang, the Producer. They were charming, and clearly enjoyed explaining the meaning of the costumes and some of the traditions of Peking Opera. All the costumes are hand embroidered, and feature dragons and phoenixes and flowers. The male high class characters can wear dragon robes, and the high class females wear phoenixes. High status characters have ‘water sleeves,’ very long white sleeve extensions that float and flow, and symbolise the fact that they have no need to work. The tour definitely helped with understanding the action when the performance began.
The on stage orchestra play a mixture or percussion and stringed instruments, providing the backdrop to the movement and song. Movement is highly stylised and non naturalistic. From the graceful, willowy hand movements of the maids to the incredible acrobatics of the warriors, they all have to be mastered perfectly by the performers, a process that, along with vocal technique, combat skills and takes about eight years training. There is no room for improvisation or alteration of the established movements, but the actors seek to allow their own personality to shine through the traditional gestures.
The singing is so different to anything in western music that it can be difficult to appreciate. I wish the volume had been less ear bleeding, because to those of us not accustomed to the style of singing it could, at times, feel like an aural assault, especially in the higher register. By half way through the first act I was enjoying the male voices, in particular that of Yu Kuizhi’s Emperor, but the female voices were harder for me to like. The sound is shrill and harsh to the western ear, but clearly very skillful. Li Shengsu plays the Concubine with grace and beauty. I would like to understand the vocal techniques better so that I could appreciate her voice more.
One thing that could be improved on are the text descriptions. I would be surprised if a native English speaker had been involved in writing them, as there are several grammatical mistakes, and some amusing phrases that are not intended to be so.
The sets are sumptuous and the costumes, as I have already mentioned, are stunning. The makeup is also important to defining characters, and is incredibly effective and intricate. All in all The Emperor and the Concubine was an enjoyable and interesting experience, but it is hard to judge the quality of an art form that is so outside our normal experience. From watching the ecstatic response of the Chinese people in the audience, it was very good indeed.
“It felt as though we were watching an exploration of trust, love, dependency and a sweet tenderness”
BalletBoyz creators Billy Trevitt and Michael Nunn paired four leading choreographers with four composers and tasked them to create a dance piece for the BalletBoyz dancers in just fourteen days. They gave them a theme – balance. It is an ambitious idea but the result is uneven.
The first piece was ‘The Title is in the Text,’ choreographed by Javier De Frutos and with music by Scott Walker. Some may remember Scott from the 1960s duo The Walker Brothers, and wonder what he is doing writing music for a contemporary dance piece. He is now a respected composer of avant-garde compositions, and had a Prom dedicated to his music this year. His current musical style is miles away from ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,’ and this piece tends more towards the unsettlingly apocalyptic than the sweet. With jarring shrieks and repeated spoken word iterations it works well with De Frutos’ choreography. The dancers work on and around a giant see-saw, taking the theme of balance very literally. The see-saw tips and changes as they shift the balance, sustaining the angle with arabesques, sliding down the board, falling from the highest point into the arms of other dancers. The level of trust between the dancers and their collective strength and lightness turn what could be just a quirky idea into something which is sometimes unsettling, sometimes powerful and occasionally amusing. It is an intriguing piece and it definitely holds the attention.
Next came ‘Human Animal’ which, despite it’s title, had a distinctly equine air. The dancers spent quite a while moving in a circle, pawing the ground like a group of slightly skittish horses. I expected more of choreographer Ivan Perez; his work is often powerful, emotional and intense, but here he seems to have tried a light touch and it doesn’t have much impact. The piece was created in an unusual way, having been choreographed in silence by Perez. The sound of the dancers’ feet was recorded and sent to Joby Talbot, who then composed the music. The second half of the piece has more power, building from the presence of a solo dancer, but overall it isn’t a great success.
If Human Animal lacks humanity the next work, ‘Us’, has it in spades. This is the strongest of the four new pieces, a beautiful exploration of a relationship between two men. It is strong, tender and moving. The dancers are in physical contact almost the whole time and when they do move apart it feels like a disaster. The intimacy is highlighted by intricate shared hand gestures that are almost ritualistic. It felt as though we were watching an exploration of trust, love, dependency and a sweet tenderness. Choreographed by Christopher Whealdon, who is probably best known for the award winning An American in Paris, with music by Keaton Henson, this is the stand out work of the four.
The last piece in the first half was ‘The Indicator Line,’ choreographed by ‘Strictly’ judge Craig Revel Horwood. It is full of energy and has some refreshingly powerful moments but it is stylistically confused and tries too hard to tell a story. Charlotte Harding’s music provides a percussive and vivid environment for the dancers, but are they clog dancing, tapping, Irish dancing or, as an audience member said in the break, is it ‘a little bit West Side Story?’ Horwood based the work on his family history, discovered during filming ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ for the BBC. He found out that one of his ancestors was a champion clog dancer. The dancers seem to be workers, and at one point an overseer or military man appears on stage in a red coat like a pantomime villain or the traditional baddie in a classical ballet. Despite the unevenness of the piece the dancers tackle it with relish and the strength and power of some of the movements are a delight.
After the interval we were treated to a revival of the award winning ‘Fallen,’ a work that was first performed by the BalletBoyz in 2013. Choreographed by Russell Malifant with music by Armand Amar and highly effective lighting design by Michael Hulls, this is a fluid and athletic piece that perfectly showcases the BalletBoyz ensemble. At first the dancers circle and turn, weaving with sinuous grace. Then the piece develops into an abstract of lifts, throws, falls, rolls and balances that have a sublime grace and strength.
Despite the difference in the quality of the pieces this was a very worthwhile evening at Saddler’s Wells. The BalletBoyz pulled it off.
