The Royal Ballet’s Kevin O’Hare will have had no shortage of possible alternative casts to choose from for Glen Tetley’s quirky Pierrot Lunaire. Indeed it must have been a challenge to whittle it down with so much talent on offer. Thus it was interesting to watch the debuts of Joshua Junker, Natalia Osipova and Patricio Revé unfold on the Linbury Theatre’s stage in what seemed like predictably good choices.
I was lucky enough to see Christopher Bruce dance Pierrot with Ballet Rambert many years ago and can imagine it must have been a valuable experience to work with him in the lead up to these performances, not least because he worked directly with Tetley.
Junker is still a soloist and casting him as Pierrot alongside Osipova as Columbine and Revé as Brighella might have overwhelmed a lesser artist. Yet he portrayed the innocence and vulnerability, balanced it perfectly with pathos and mischief, and executed everything with smooth technical precision.
Osipova was never going to be anything other than a brilliantly comical Columbine. She has an ability to inhabit characters that almost makes you believe she is actually like that in real life. The stomp off stage after slapping Pierrot for squeezing her breasts was a moment to savour. Her transitions into various guises – mother-figure, playmate, temptress – were seamless and delivered with deft comic timing.
Revé’s Brighella will surely grow in nastiness. He is such an eloquent artist that it’s difficult to focus on anything other than his many exceptional dance qualities. However, I have a feeling he will find a way to further unleash his inner malevolence at later performances and relish the opportunity of playing the bad guy.
As Jonathan Gray reported on opening night, Arnold Schoenberg’s atonal score is not an easy listen and yet Tetley manages to make it translate into dance movement that succinctly tells the story. Having surtitles above the stage was surprisingly distracting and given that the words did not always relate to the action I stopped looking at them after a while.
Alexandra Lowe sang with astonishing clarity and the excellent chamber orchestra under the baton of Yi Wei made Schoenberg sound as palatable as they were able. However, I won’t be humming the music in the shower any time soon.
Tetley created Pierrot Lunaire in 1962 and while some would say it looks its age, it is still eminently watchable. And while it was only 45 minutes, every single one of those minutes was compelling.
