The Green Table is a one-act ballet created in 1932 by German choreographer Kurt Jooss for his own company. A pioneering work of Tanztheater, it was created amid the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism. This season it returns to Birmingham Royal Ballet, where it has not been performed since 1992. BRB’s Jonathan Payn tells us why it remains such a significant part of the repertoire.
Can you introduce yourself and talk about your current role and responsibilities with Birmingham Royal Ballet?
My name is Jonathan Payn and I joined BRB in 1993. However, I was a student at the Royal Ballet School and worked with the company for the whole of the 1992 season, very aware of The Green Table being performed but not actually dancing in it. During my performing career I danced many roles across the repertoire and was made a First Soloist in 2006. During this time, I specialised in character roles and in 2025 I became Repetiteur and Principal Character Artist. The first part of my job title means I teach and rehearse the dancers as a member of the ballet staff. The second part means I still regularly perform character roles. Additionally, I host pre-performance talks and other in-person and online events.
The Green Table is almost one hundred years old, but it seems timeless. What are the elements that make it seem so contemporary?
The subject matter of The Green Table makes it a completely timeless piece and extraordinarily contemporary. Essentially it is about the failure of politicians to prevent or end conflict, the futility of war, life and death, the effects on families and relationships. Probably the most famous section opens and closes the ballet – The Gentlemen in Black, itself an ironic title. Ten masked characters choreographically debate, argue, break out into groups, mock each other and fail to come to any conclusions. Does that sound familiar to these times?
There is little ballet virtuosity in the piece, yet it is considered very difficult to dance. Can you explain why?
There isn’t any virtuosity in the traditional ballet sense of big jumps and complicated turns. However, it is difficult to dance because it must be performed incredibly accurately and with a high degree of authenticity. One example of accuracy is in the opening solo performed by Death. At one point his arms move from a low position to the left diagonally up to the right as the body switches from a lunge to the left to the right. The timing of the weight transfer, the tracking of the arms and even the movement of the eyeline is so incredibly precise in timing and coordination. Now that is detail!
In this age of pushing the boundaries of classical technique, why do you think The Green Table is still so impactful?
The Green Table is still so impactful because of the subject matter, but it’s also increasingly unique for another reason. Many choreographers now, and in recent years, have worked to push the human body to the extreme, discovering new, more complicated and challenging ways to dance. This can be breathtaking, hypnotic and incredible to watch.
Abstract ballets that put the choreography first and foremost will always have their place, but I feel there has been a reduction in the number of pieces that are plot or theme-driven, where the choreography is there to serve a greater purpose. Don’t get me wrong, the movement is fantastic, but every step, every nuanced look, is there for a reason – to further or deepen the overarching theme and say something about the world then and now and universal truths.
How important is Frederic Cohen’s music? It seems almost as if he is mocking The Gentlemen in Black at the start?
Frederic Cohen’s music, for two pianos, is central to the ballet. The percussive nature of the piano lends itself so well to the theme of conflict. However, it also has some incredibly beautiful passages. I must confess that I have rehearsed the dancers in the Aftermath section (near the end when Death leads everyone away) one more time than has been necessary because the music is so wonderful.
Unusually, the music for The Gentlemen in Black perhaps isn’t what you’d expect. It is a bit like a habanera rhythm, which gives it a slightly lilting, dragging quality. The syncopating, slow pull on the first beat means it never rushes, giving it a sensual quality. The music is quite amusing, as though the dancers (the politicians) are mocking each other and mocking us.
The style is very specific, and for a long time Jooss only wanted to stage it himself. After his death, the responsibility was passed on to his daughter. Can you explain why staging it correctly is so important as this surely applies to all legacy ballets?
It is so important that ballets such as The Green Table are staged by people who know the ballet intimately, who worked with Kurt Jooss. We were very lucky to have had Jeanette Vondersaar, Claudio Schellino and Freek Damen visit us for an intense fortnight of teaching last August. Jeanette returns at the beginning of June and in the interim it has been my responsibility to keep it ticking over. All three repetiteurs not only taught the choreography but added layers of meaning and intention, taking the steps up a level to be truly authentic. It is vital that all legacy ballets are restaged like this. The challenge is to always develop the next generation of repetiteurs to take this work forward in the future.
The piece is subtitled “A dance of death in eight scenes”. Can you tell me a bit about the role of Death in the ballet?
The role of Death is iconic and there have been many great interpreters. I think there are two elements to the role. Firstly, he has two fairly long and physically demanding solos, near the start and towards the end of the ballet. I’ve mentioned already the accuracy required but both solos need to be danced with a lot of power and presence – this takes stamina. Secondly, Death is ever-present. He makes constant entrances at critical times in the ballet, linking the scenes and driving the narrative forward. During the Farewell scene, when most of the characters leave for battle, he remains at the back of stage repeating the same movement over one hundred times – omnipresent and omnipotent.
You may not have danced in The Green Table, but do you know how your predecessors felt about the work?
Although I have never danced in The Green Table, when Birmingham Royal Ballet last performed it I was at the Royal Ballet School and was working with the company as a student. I was well aware that it was an important ballet to the dancers, especially because Sir Peter Wright, who was Director at the time, was deeply passionate about the piece from when he was a dancer with Kurt Jooss. When thinking about this article I asked Jessica Clarke, Artistic Manager at the Royal Ballet School and in BRB at the time, what it was like to perform. Her overall memory was what an honour it was to rehearse and perform – all dancers know a masterpiece when they see one.
Birmingham Royal Ballet perform The Green Table for Sir Peter Wright’s Centenary and as part of 20th Century Masterpieces at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 18–20th June.
This article was sponsored by Birmingham Royal Ballet.
