Ballet Cymru's mandate is to make ballet accessible to new audiences, and after last night's shameless crowdpleasing performance of Under Milk Wood, tonight we saw Darius James and Amy Doughty's Beauty and the Beast, inspired by the Jean Cocteau film rather than the original fairytale. And any show which opens with a Jean Cocteau quote is off to a good start.
By contrast with Under Milk Wood, tonight's performance was more traditional, with a more classical feel and without the presence of a narrator to help explain the storyline. Instead, the storytelling was conveyed through each scene, and programmes were available on sale for backup. The score was composed by David Wescott, which set the emotional tone for each scene, whether of happiness, fear or panic.
In accordance with Cocteau's version of the story, Belle had four sisters, each clad in sumptuous red dresses, and were only concerned with their own beauty, and with tormenting their little sister Belle. Belle had troubles of her own, in the form of her brother's amorous friend Avenant; it's little wonder that all she wanted was her father's safe return, and for the gift of a rose from him. She alone was concerned at her father's fate, originally on returning from the Beast's castle, and later when he was suffering in her absence. And even her sisters' bullying couldn't prevent Belle from seeing the best in people, especially the Beast, who she quickly warmed to and eventually fell in love with. Her sisters had to resort to sniffing onions just to show tears.
Unlike any other depiction of the Beast, Ballet Cymru's beast is very much a 21st century Beast: a 7-foot monster with a sheep's head, scrap metal frame and jump stilts: we can only just about make up Mandev Sokhi's face and lonely eyes under the caked face paint. The use of stilts reduced his range of movement to unsteady tottering, but this could be interpreted as projecting his isolation and unreachableness.
The Beasts' servants were possibly the highlight of the evening: not only did the women resemble zombie brides of Christ in their costumes, but they had some of the most evocative choreography of the evening, often creating parts of the set with their bodies, whether a rose bush, statues, archways or doorways. One memory to savour is of the male servants holding up the women in distorted poses, each holding a candle, while Belle approached them.
Olga Petiteau was perfectly cast as Belle, with her wonderful expressiveness and captivating dancing - those huge eyes of hers and winning smile had the audience glued to her every move and longing for her happiness. Similarly, Helena Casado Cortes's grace and movement quality made it hard to focus on any of the other dancers while she was on stage, even though she only had minor roles tonight.
Although Beauty and the Beast is not an overt crowdpleaser like Under Milk Wood, it is a wonderful performance with beautiful choreography and some very talented dancers; it did seem that several dancers were less comfortable with tonight's choreography, however, and in the intimacy of a venue such as the Lilian Baylis Studio, it's hard to overlook that. Nevertheless, Ballet Cymru are so fresh and youthful, it's hard to believe that the company is 26 years old already: let's hope that the future holds great things for them!