Reviews

The Great Gatsby (tour – Norwich, Theatre Royal)

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1 May 2013

When you read the
programme synopsis for David Nixon‘s ballet based on F Scott
Fitzgerald‘s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, your
first thought has to be “this is an incredibly complicated
story”. Your second will probably be “why, of all the
novels which rely on the precision use of words, make this one into a
classical dance drama?” Then the music – selected from an
eclectic range of the late Richard Rodney Bennett‘s compositions –
begins, the curtain rises, and none of this really seems to matter
any more.

Dixon’s choreography
gives both the principals and the corps de ballet opportunities to
show off, whether in variations on the social dances of the 1920s –
look out for the charleston, the bunny hug and the tango – or in
more lyrical moments. These are principally the preserve of the young
Daisy (Michela Paolacci) as she swirls gracefully across the stage
with her war-destined beloved Gatsby (Jeremy Curnier). Their steps
for their several pas de deux are firmly in the
romantic Ashton idiom.

When it comes to their
older emanations, (Martha Leebolt) as Daisy (now Mrs Buchanan) and
Tobias Batley as the wealthy sybarite Gatsby) with their friends
and lovers are given steps which – particularly in the jumps and
lifts – are far more forceful, even jagged. There are odd little
syncopated scissor kicks which remind you that this was an era where
design favoured the asymmetrical and when life could be forceful, not
to say ruthless.

Jérôme Kaplan is
the designer for the simple but atmospheric sets with Tim
Mitchell‘s lighting contributing to the sense of time and place. The
mirror sequence which opens the second act where reflexions deform
into something akin to the work of de Chirico or Dali is
particularly effective. Throughout, period detail is never allowed to
confine or cramp the dancers’ space.

This is a company of
dancers who can also act, so that the divided personalities of Gatsby
himself, jealous George (Benjamin Mitchell), unfaithful Myrtle
(Victoria Sibson) and Tom (Kenneth Tindall) as well as the
slightly-detached Nick (Giuliano Contadini) and Jordan (Hannah
Bateman) are all made clear. The Northern Ballet Sinfonia was
conducted by John Pryce-Jones and reminded us of what an enjoyable
composer Rodney Bennett had been, and still is.