Akram Khan’s arresting revision – or reimagining – of Giselle for English National Ballet has captured the public imagination to an extraordinary degree. Premiered in 2016, it has sold out not just across the country but around the world, from Moscow to Chicago; it has been beamed into cinemas and immortalised on DVD. It’s now receiving its second revival at Sadler’s Wells and tickets are like gold dust once again. And deservedly so, for Khan has created an outstanding piece of theatre that deserves the widest possible audience.
The story is translated in time and place, moving from harvest time in the medieval Rhineland to a contemporary Industrialist landscape. The merry peasants of Act 1 become unemployed migrants, Khan making a telling point about ugly economic forces and mass human movement in pursuit of cheap labour. The handprints of these workers spatter the monolithic stone wall that dominates Tim Yip’s set – evocatively lit by Mark Henderson – a class barrier that separates them from the Landlords, factory bosses dressed in peacock-proud costumes. Albrecht is one of these Landlords, but is slumming it as a migrant to be close to Giselle. When Hilarion, the Landlords’ “fixer”, betrays Albrecht’s real identity as Bathilde’s fiancé, he is ordered to end Giselle’s life – no weak heart and mad scene for her here. Her relationship with Albrecht makes her a liability; she must be disposed of.
Act 2 is not the usual ballet-blanc set in a mossy moonlit glade, but a ghost factory, haunted by the spirits of women, victims of industrial accidents such as the Dhaka garment factory in 2013, which resulted in the deaths of over 1000 textile workers. Stabbing their steps mechanically on pointe, the wilis’ bamboo canes – sometimes clamped between their teeth – seem to represent the handlooms of the pre-industrial era. These canes turn into lethal weapons to spear the repentant Hilarion amid the clatter of gnashing scissors. Terrifying.
Once again, Tamara Rojo leads from the front. ENB’s Artistic Director danced the title role with such passionate expression that it was impossible for tears not to prick the eyes. Her Giselle clearly loves to dance, her fluidity of movement and sense of abandon in Act 1 was infectious. The sincerity of her acting devastates: curiosity when she recognises her own handiwork in Bathilde’s dress; the tenderness of her duets with Albrecht; the hurt when he betrays her.