Sleeping Beauty

English National Ballet - Royal Albert Hall

Half-baked ballet that needed a little longer in the development oven. It's beautiful, but not the perfect fit for the large Royal Albert Hall stage. The orchestra will blow you away with Tchaikovsky's composition.

The English National Ballet are such an incredible ballet company, and this piece does not seem to match their usual work. 'Sleeping Beauty' is a story we all know, so it is an easy ballet to follow. The story itself is clear, the characterisation and that wow you get from a ballet of this scale just wasn't there. It was undercooked and felt like something was missing. Between scenes, there was also a long transition, which felt awkward and as if the show had stopped. Sir Kenneth MacMillan has choreographed a gorgeous piece of ballet, and the performers throw so much energy into the piece that there is just not enough characterisation to make the audience fall in love with the characters they all know and love. This ballet needed a little more time to show the quality it was created to be, especially in such a grand venue. However, that being said, the English National Ballet Philharmonic filled the theatre with such beauty as they played Tchaikovsky's music.

Each dancer in this piece performed their all and helped bring the story to life. MacMillan's choreography is enchanting and gives each dancer time to show off their high-quality skills. Of course, they are the best of the best ballet dancers in the country and are a part of the English National Ballet for good reason. It just felt the dancers needed more space to emphasise their characters and make the stakes a bit higher. Big moments of the show did not feel on the scale they usually do, such as the moment that Aurora pricks her finger and falls asleep; this did not feel like the huge, significant moment it should be. Whilst Emma Hawes as Aurora did a beautiful performance of Aurora, there just needed to be more emphasis on key moments and bigger characterisation. It also felt like James Streeter as 'Carabosse', the villain, was not given the stage time to be this massive evil character. Carbosse's evil side kicks also gave a similar characterisation to that of the Flying Monkeys from 'Wicked'. That could've just been my interpretation, though. That being said, each dancer was beautiful and incredible; they just needed more space for character development. Act One finished with a dance by the Lilac Fairy, played by Anri Sugiura. Although beautiful, it made the end of Act One a bit confusing and got rid of the excitement of the cliffhanger. So many choices made this piece fragmented.

Tech design felt disjointed and did let the piece down, especially with maintaining the tension of the piece. The backdrop of the piece was a projection of some stunning artwork, but each scene change took at least 10 minutes, which slowed down the show and made the audience confused. It felt unplanned and awkward to sit through. It disengaged you from the piece, which made the start of each scene slow and hard to get into. There was a really stunning section of the show, set by Charlotte MacMillan shone in this moment. It was a moment where the Lilac Fairy and the Prince were in a boat moving across the water, the lighting, the imagery, and then the dry ice smoke moving off the stage, and as the boat went through, it was stunning. This moment was picture perfect. If all the scenes were a little like this, it would've been so artistic to watch. With a little longer and quicker changes, this show would've been the spectacle the audience expected.

Without a doubt, the English National Ballet do deliver some incredible, ground-breaking productions of ballet, the best in the country. Could it have been the huge venue which tainted some of the choices? Did we go in with expectations too high? Was it just a day where things were not going right? Questions that I have had mulling through my brain since watching the show. There were so many elements of the show that had me tilting my head in confusion. Which does not usually happen when I see an ENB show. I am intrigued to see what others felt, and I don't check reviews until I write my own, so I don't get swayed by others' opinions. I do still believe that this show is beautiful and has potential. There are just loose ends; everyone has worked hard to create this piece, and I don't doubt that. If you saw the production, what do you think? I look forward to what the English National Ballet create next. The dancers are always incredible.