BRB’s Sir Peter Wright Centenary: a fitting tribute

Sir Peter Wright Centenary with Birmingham Royal Ballet

Birmingham Royal Ballet in The Green Table by Kurt Jooss

Carlos Acosta as Death and Max Maslen as the Old Soldier in The Green Table

Céline Gittens as Odile and Yasiel Hodelín Bello as Siegfried in the Black Swan pas de deux

Miki Mizutani as Giselle and Max Maslan as Albrecht in Act 2 of Giselle

Mathias Dingman as Florimund and Momoko Hirata as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty

By Graham Watts, 20 June 2026

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“which exists at some distance from classical ballet in the hinterland of modern movement”

Reviewed at Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham on 18 June 2026

Other

The Green Table (Kurt Jooss)

The Sleeping Beauty: Act III, Pas de deux (Sir Peter Wright)

Giselle: Pas de deux (Sir Peter Wright)

Coppélia (excerpt) (Sir Peter Wright)

Swan Lake: Pas de Deux (Sir Peter Wright)

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Royal Ballet Sinfonia

Carlos Acosta, Dancer

Céline Gittens, Dancer

Yasiel Hodelín Bello, Dancer

Tzu-Chao Chou, Dancer

Beatrice Parma, Dancer

Momoko Hirata, Dancer

Mathias Dingman, Dancer

Max Maslen, Dancer

Miki Mizutani, Dancer

Jeanette Wong, Piano

Yen Lee, Piano

National Ballet of Japan's Swan Lake: tragic but mesmerising

Naomi Mori, 5th June

National Ballet of Japan’s revival of Sir Peter Wright’s Swan Lake showed the company in good form, especially among the unified corps de ballet Swans.

****1

A new Albrecht makes a polished Giselle shine even brighter

Deborah Weiss, 7th March

A last minute injury to Natalia Osipova does not mar the magic of Sir Peter Wright's Giselle as Marianela Núñez steps in to partner Patricio Revé.

****1

The RB: Peter Wright’s Giselle is as near perfection as you can get

Amanda Jennings, 14th February

Sir Peter Wright’s Giselle was given a well-deserved, thunderous ovation on opening night. A near perfect rendition of the ballet from all quarters of the Company was deeply satisfying.

*****

BRB’s The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall is at its best

Deborah Weiss, 29th December

Sir Peter Wright’s beautiful Nutcracker ticks every box with Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall.

****1

The Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker: exceptional performances

Amanda Jennings, 22nd November

The Royal Ballet opened the Christmas season with a superlative performance of Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.

*****

Birmingham Royal Ballet enchants in Peter Wright's The Nutcracker

Deborah Weiss, 29th December

The Royal Albert Hall turns out to be a wonderful venue for Birmingham Royal Ballet's transporting Nutcracker.

****1

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Graham Watts

Graham Watts is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Dancing Times, Dance Europe, Danza Europa, and many more publications. He regularly writes features for Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum and La Scala. Chairman of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom and of the UK National Dance Awards he has interviewed many of the greatest names in dance including Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Boris Eifman, Alexei Ratmansky, Andris Liepa, Sir Peter Wright, David Bintley and Dame Gillian Lynne. When not involved in dance Graham is a keen fencer, and has captained the British Sabre team.