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If the shoe fits . . . thank Michael
Heart and sole: Michael Clifford with just a fraction of the ballet shoes under his charge as the Birmingham Royal Ballet's Shoe Master
WHEN it comes to putting your best foot forward Michael Clifford
has plenty of choice as to what to wear - with something like 2,500
pairs of shoes tucked away in his wardrobe at any one time.
Not quite Imelda Marcos - she managed more than 3,000 pairs - but
its enough to be getting on with. Not that any of them are his, mind
you.
Michael is the Shoe Master of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, one of
those vital jobs never seen nor really thought about by audiences but which are
essential to the success of every performance.
Like the ballet he will be celebrating 20 years in Birmingham
having moved up from London as an assistant in the costume department
with what up to then had been the Saddler's Wells Royal Ballet.
Michael, now 46, was not a Londoner though. He is . . .
well, as he says, “I am an Army brat. I was born in Malaysia, lived in
Europe for most of my schooling and my family were from the Wirral so my
father decided to return there when he retired from the Army.
College was theatre school where he trained in technical stage
management which covered theatre, opera, musicals and . . . no
ballet.
“Ballet wasn’t part of it at all. I had been working in the West
End and I got an interview for the the wardrobe department for the opera
at the Opera House and when I got there they were interviewing for the
Royal Ballet as well and asked if I wanted to be interviewed for that as
well. I said fine but I didn’t think I would get it because I had no
knowledge of ballet at all. I ended up being offered the job in wardrobe
for Saddler’s Wells so I kind of fell into it.
*I was with the company about four years before we moved up here
and I had already had my fill of London so it was an opportunity to move
out with a job. A year after moving up here I was asked to apply for the
shoe job and it just went on from there.”
Michael, who has spent more than half his life working with the
Birmingham Royal Ballet, already knew Birmingham as the
ballet came two or three times a year to its No 1 touring venue and at
the time of the move the city was a vast building site with all the city
centre developments, the ICC, Symphony Hall, Victoria Square and so on
under way. “A lot
of people said I was mad but it has worked out fine.”
From the technical side of the ballet’s point of view the move has
not turned out too badly either. “Space is the biggest change. In the
building where we were, the old Saddler’s Wells, the technical
department was just squidged in to this tiny building. Everyone else was
based at the Opera House, we didn’t see them. Here the whole ground
floor is technical and lighting, wardrobe and wigs take a huge section.”
In London, where storage space is expensive, he said that
costumes were spread far and wide and a trip to bring costumes back
meant a whole day out of the office. Now, with all the costumes in
Dudley it is just a short trip up and down the road. “You can do what
you want to do and soon be back in the office.”
Even the dancers are on call. “We have the studios on the top
floor so the dancers are nearby if we need them for anything.”
And when it comes to the dancers Michael’s knowledge is essential
from knowing who wears out shoes quickly, which dancers are light as a
feather in pointe work so can keep shoes wearable longer, who is . . .
awkward, or wants regular adjustments - in short knowing all the dancers
and as far as possible keeping them both happy and well stocked with
shoes.
“With the girls, at any one time, I have about 60 pairs each. It
fluctuates a little, it depends on how quickly they wear out their shoes and
if I can get their shoes fairly quickly. If it is a bespoke shoe then I
do like to have a certain amount in.
“The girls can use about 10 pairs a month. If their maker gets
injured, particularly with Freed of London where it is an individual
person making their shoes - and we have had people go off with broken
arms, broken legs or something like that - it means they can’t make
shoes.
“So by the time the maker comes back the dancers can be down to their
last ten pairs so that is my safety margin.
“We have 35 girls. With the boys I can have lower stocks because they tend to be stock sizes and we can buy off the shelf. I don’t think there is a company in England now that we use for the boys, they are now mostly from Thailand, North Africa via France, Brazil and China nut there are warehouses in Europe carrying large stocks.
“Traditionally they are not so difficult. The boys, we have 27,
tend to have twenty pairs each, ten black and ten white.
“They are canvas so they don’t wear out as much - and the men are
lazy and don’t like sewing them.”
When it comes to price a girl’s shoe comes in at about £32 while a
boy’s shoe is a snip at about £7 (remember, though, bulk buying would be
a tad of an understatement) although in the BRB’s Edward II when
the men all wore thigh length leather boots - three yards of leather
each - they were coming in at £500 - that’s £250 a leg!!!
PREPARED
Michael’s job is not just a question of keeping shoes in stock,
like a glorified branch of Clarks though. When new girls join Michael
draws and measures their feet and keeps one copy for his records and
sends the other to their chosen maker which could be in London, Germany,
Russia, Australia . . . anywhere.
Shoes also need to be prepared for performance as you can see with Michael painting pairs right.
For the Rites of
Spring more than 200 pairs had to be painted by hand in red and
yellow patterns and shoes are routinely sprayed to go with costumes.
On top of that Michael has to check the status of orders which have been placed with makers all over the world. He also has to check his stocks of shoes to see what has been used and what needs to be ordered and then, because the Birmingham Royal Ballet also has to run as a business, once a month there is a full stock take so the finance department can be told how many shoes have been used “so they can keep tabs on it”.
“There are always orders going through and then there are the girls, it
is almost always the girls that you deal with, who are always fine
tuning their shoes so it is contacting the factory and saying can we
change this measurement or try that measurement.
“I usually order in units of 20 so it might be a case of can you
hold off on 15 and just do five with this alteration and see if that
works.
“Then we are always working towards shows, looking at the
castings, costumes, fitting people, if shoes don’t fit ordering remakes
from theatrical shoe companies. It is always fluid. Even last week we
had an amended Sleeping Beauty casting and they are on stage this
afternoon. We are constantly updating and changing things. No pun
intended but you are kept on your toes.
“We are not just working on Sleeping Beauty, we are working on
other shows as well and in the midst of this we are also beginning to
pack to go off on our tour to America. That stuff goes off in April just
after we come back from our Spring tour.
“I will be sending ten pairs for each girl. It is Swan Lake so
there is lots of pointe work and they will need shoes for rehearsals
and, if the weather gets hot then it has an effect on the shoes. In
Norfolk last year it was very warm and in hot weather the shoes
break down quicker.”
The BRB American tour takes them to Norfolk, Virginia again with performances from May 7-9 and provides another opportunity for travel which has also taken the Shoe Master to China with the ballet as well as tours of Britain.
STRIVING FOR PERFECTION
Amid all of this Michael also has to deal with dancers who are
striving for perfection - and that includes their shoes.
“The funniest line you hear is a dancer who comes in and says I
haven’t any shoes and you look around and they have 40 pairs. What they
mean is they haven’t got shoes that they want to wear.
“You can be dealing with some difficult personalities but then you
have to understand that they have to go on stage and perform because I
would not be able to do what they have to do.”
With bespoke pointe shoes Michael works closely with
Michelle Attfield of Freed who will tell him which maker is available, unless it
is a Principal where the hierarchy of theatre comes into play and a
specific maker is requested. “With Corps de Ballet you try to steer them
to makers who are perhaps not quite so busy.
“If you are a company abroad, in the USA for example, there is
sometimes a six month waiting time from when the order is placed to when
the shoe is made and you get them after seven months. We can get them in
six weeks which is one of the privileges of being an English company.
“I don’t know what some of the girls would be like if they had to
wait seven months - they think six weeks is too long. They can be
very impatient.
“If the shoes are right I won’t see them again if they are wrong .
. . I will see them three times a day every day until the get what they
want.
Roger Clarke
Jaki Graham back for big band
Town Hall Birmingham, Friday 12 March
Birmingham-born soul diva Jaki Graham makes a welcome return to join the BBC Big Band at Town Hall Birmingham for the second time this season on Friday 12 March for Duke Ellington’s Sounds of Harlem.
The band will play Ellington’s acclaimed Nutcracker and Peer Gynt suites along with Cotton Club classics The Mooche and East St Louis Toodle Oo and Jaki will prove It Don’t Mean a Thing if it ain’t got that Swing.
Jaki Graham made her debut
with the BBC Big Band in October last year when they gave the George &
Ira Gershwin songbook a new sound for the 21st century.
The final concert in the BBC Big Band’s current Town Hall season is on Friday 23 April when they will be joined by Australian trumpet virtuoso James Morrison and renowned vocalist Anita Wardell in A Tribute to Louis and Ella.
Tickets are available from
the Box Office on 0121 780 3333 or via
www.thsh.co.uk.
Lock, stock and barrels of laughs
Sean Lock Lockipedia Live
Birmingham Hippodrome, Sun March 14
Comedian Sean Lock is promising to leave audiences in stitches as he brings his brand new stand-up show to Birmingham.
The increasingly in demand funnyman, who has added regular appearances on BBC's QI to his stint as a team captain on Channel 4's 8 Out Of 10 Cats, is finally back on the road with Lockipedia - his first regional dates since 2007.
Lockipedia promises to let the audience choose what show they get, but Sean has guaranteed that whatever happens, it will be funny!
ACCLAIMED
The established comic, who is on tour from February 21 until the end of May, remains one of the most acclaimed and original stand-up performers around with his amazing blend of surreal and hyperactive imagination and insightful observations.
The veteran of the comedy circuit, who has also appeared on TV series' 15 Storeys High and TV Heaven, Telly Hell, is no stranger to awards, having won a British Comedy Award for best stand-up as long ago as 2000 and a Time Out Comedy Award.
Sean Lock Lockipedia Live will be available on DVD from 15 November, but audiences can see him in the flesh at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre on Sunday - 14 March.
Hippodrome
Box Office on 0844 338 5000 www.birminghamhippodrome.com
He is also at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Thursday 8 April. Box office 0870 320 7000 wolvescivic.co.uk
Brum set for Lord of the Dance
IT is a decade since the American Mark Morris Dance Group last brought L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato to these shores.
Even that was only the third visit of the dance creation since the work was first performed in Brussels in 1988.
On the face of it a pastoral ode by George Frideric Handel based on the
poetry of John Milton dating from 1740 does not immediately bring dance
to mind. You have the baroque composer of Messiah with 42 operas,
29 other oratorios and numerous other works to his name and the author
of the epic poem Paradise Lost which in itself might not be the
most obvious combination
Add Seattle born ballet choreographer Mark Morris (pictured left by Amber Darragh) to the mix though and the unlikely union produced a landmark in dance. To keep to the period theme the sets are inspired by William Blake’s later watercolours illustrating Milton’s text - the same romantic poet, painter and printmaker who wrote Jerusalem.
Adding to the international flavour the work was created when he was Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of Belgium, between 1988-91. Another work he created in that period was The Hard Nut incidentally. (See below)
ACCLAIM
The work received critical acclaim and has been in the repertoire ever since first appearing in the UK at the Edinburgh Festival in 1994 since when it has made two visits to the London Coliseum with a third next month before the group bring the production to Birmingham Hippodrome for the first time.
The Boston Herald describe it as “one of the very greatest dances of the late 20th century” while The Times limited themselves to: “Once in a very rare while something comes along that simply has to be seen...blissful dance”.
So no pressure than . . .
The production which runs from Aril 22 -24 launches the International Dance Festival Birmingham 2010.
Writer Christopher Morley caught up with Mark Morris in New York where he started by asking if the 53-year-old saw any distinction between modern dance and traditional choreography?
Morris said: "I also do ballet choreography so as far as I'm concerned the only difference - a very big difference - is that in the classical ballet industry the technique differs enormously between men and women, it's a different kind of dancing for each of them in classical ballet.
"And in my work for my own company that's not true! And also, when I work with ballet companies I choose to work en pointe, because I like that, and they do it much better than they do when they're not dancing en pointe.
"But that's it! I can only speak for me. Other choreographers, who work in both realms, or one or the other, probably would answer that generally, but for me, I'm very comfortable in both departments, for me it's the same, especially as I'm still working from music."
Asked about comparisons with Matthew Bourne Morris smiled: "That's not my job to do that, in that we're both mid-career artists working in dance. He directs a lot more shows, we're working in different arenas. But certainly he's a legitimate choreographer, I've known him for many years and I like him, but our work isn't for us to talk about really"
LIFE IN THE CANON
“L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato is not a pre-existing dance in any way; it's never been choreographed except by me that I know of, whereas something like Swan Lake or something like Carman, is a reinterpretation, a reading on pieces that have a life in the canon. I have a Nutcracker that I did called The Hard Nut, and that could be a way of finding out if Matthew Bourne and I have similarities, that's true. But the piece I'm bringing is not pre-existing at all: I made it up!"
He hesitates to describe L'Allegro as a masque “because a masque is much more likely to have a through-line, and to be a comment on something else, L'Allegro does not at all. The poems are fabulous evocations, but there's no narrative throughout the piece, and I think that's one of the requirements for a masque.
"But, you know, it's certainly lively and varied, and there's a lot of wonderful situations in it, and that's one reason I chose it as the subject of the dance, as it's not a linear narrative in the way 19th-century ballet would be, or pretty much any opera."
It was the music which first attracted him to the piece. "I always work from music, I'm a choreographer who works with music, and that's not required, but that's what I choose to do.
“Handel wouldn't have written such incredibly rich and thrilling music if he hadn't identified with this extremely gorgeous text of Milton, so, of course, the poem started everything and what Handel and Charles Jennens (his librettist) accomplished in the piece is a miracle of word-painting and description. It's an amazing piece of music. It's very much unlike the other oratorios and operas that Handel wrote.
"You know, I've worked a great deal with baroque music in many different categories, and so it was, as the first big project I could do, in Brussels, for the first time in my life enough time and enough money to do something on that scale. So that's why I celebrated it by doing that.”
Morris’s life is music. He said: “"I'm a musician, and my medium is choreography. I read music, and I've had a company for 30 years, and I coach musicians, I have lots of friends, I work with live music only, and I conduct a little bit. But I'm not an instrumentalist at all.
CONDUCTING REPERTOIRE
"Lately, what I'm doing in March on our trip to Moscow is that I conduct my choreographic treatment of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas I don't do a lot, but I took over doing Dido and Aeneas because I knew it well enough, and, you know, it seemed to work well.
"It was scary, but I can handle it! I'll be adding a little bit more to my conducting repertoire, but it's not what I'm looking for as another job, but I do it periodically."
Baroque music probably plays a smaller part now than it did according to Morris but added: “Yes, I do a lot of baroque music, including opera stagings. I did Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice at the Met a couple of seasons ago, and one of my latest dances was the Bach Italian Concerto, so yes, I still do a lot of it, and it's a very big interest of mine.
"You know, pretty much all of baroque music originally stems from dance-rhythms and dance-impulses, so whether it makes you dance or not, it's still highly vivid and kinetic music, so that's one reason -- and also the stories are so good!"
The story of this one can be seen at Birmingham Hippodrome, April 22-24.
A man and his music
with a little help from the CBSO
A MIDLAND pensioner with no performance experience and who could not read music left the stage of Symphony Hall, Birmingham triumphant after conducting the musicians City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra through a programme of his own choosing.
Peter Sinclair, 70, (above with the baton) from Willenhall in the West Midlands, won the rare opportunity to conduct the world class orchestra after beating off other bidders in the CBSO’s recent international charity eBay auction.
After leaving the stage, Peter, a recently retired business man originally heralding from New Zealand, said, “Well, my first relief is that I got through all the pieces without stopping. The Orchestra were wonderful and very supportive. One musician even said to me afterwards ‘Look out for the contract,’ so I think that means I did okay!’”
For this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Peter chose to conduct all his varied personal favourites, from Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance No. 4 to Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. The pieces represented different life experiences, including a piece by Charles Gounod that was Peter’s signature tune when he presented a radio show in America.
“I was quite nervous through the first two pieces, but by the Gounod, I’d settled down and was really enjoying myself. I am on cloud nine now – it was such a buzz,” he continued.
Violinist Zoë Beyers, who led the Orchestra for Peter’s experience said, “It’s one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen in my time at the Orchestra. To have a none-musician in front of us with all that commitment and love for the music flowing out of him was genuinely touching.”
“He’s put in such hard work and come so far, and as musicians we’re thrilled that his donation will also help others to enjoy the CBSO’s music through our education work,” she continued.
Peter’s generous eBay bid for the experience will go towards the CBSO’s Ignite programme that engages with over 53,000 people each year. This includes education work with young people and those with special needs, youth choruses and free ticket schemes for people in deprived areas of the West Midlands.
Does my Brian look big in this?
WHEN popular entertainer Brian Conley returns to the West Midlands - almost his adopted home - in June, his legion of fans will hardly recognise him.
The star will not be appearing in his one-man show or headlining a pantomime this time. His latest stage success sees him appearing in the hit musical, Hairspray . . . as a woman!
Brian dons wigs and frocks to play Edna Turnblad, overweight mother of chubby teenager Tracy who goes out to prove that appearances should be no obstacle to becoming a success in showbiz as her personality and sheer determination lead her to triumph in a TV talent show.
The musical comedy, already a big hit in the West End, runs at
Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre from June 1-19.
Conley has rubbed shoulders with pantomime dames in Birmingham for years, but his latest role doesn't mean he will be looking to pull on a dress and become Widow Twanky when Christmas comes.
He told me this week: "I just love what I normally do . . . playing roles like Buttons or Aladdin is what I prefer. It frees me up for the type of comedy I enjoy.
"But my kids (Amy, 12 and Lucy, 8) like the part I play in Hairspray. They have seen the show about ten times, along with my wife Anne Marie, and they wear T-shirts with 'My dad's Edna' on the front.
LOVED THE SHOW
"I remember going to see the show with my family when Michael Ball - Bally, as we call him in the business - was playing this part, and I just loved the show. Then I had a phone call asking if I would be interested in joining. I thought they meant playing Wilbur, but they said 'No, Edna'.
"That's what I love about this game. One minute you can be sitting around, the next you are playing a woman from Baltimore."
Conley points out that in addition to being great fun, Hairspray sends out a message about the discrimination against certain people and colour in the 1960s.
Tracy Turnblad, a young girl with big hair, battles to succeed and win the young man of her dreams despite her plump figure, and she campaigns for coloured dancers to get a better deal on TV.
To play laundress mum Edna, Conley has to wear plenty of padding, and he says: "In those days the feeling was that people like us shouldn't be on telly, so this show gives hope to so many people.
"I just think it's a great musical with an important message, and gallons of energy. We shall engulf that lovely theatre at Wolverhampton."
I was invited to see the show at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End, and the packed matinee audience applauded and cheered with terrific enthusiasm.
A REAL NATURAL
Bubbly Chloe Hart, who grew up in Cornwall, was a joy as Tracy on her professional and West End debut, A real natural as an actress and singer.
Conley delivered his usual brand of humour as Edna, with Micky Dolenz impressive as Tracy's dad, Wilbur and Liam Tamne the ideal heartthrob, Link Lartin...the boy of Tracy's dreams.
This musical is warm-hearted, colourful, packed with good songs and has that feel-good factor the audiences love. Plus a happy ending.
Conley, a regular at Birmingham theatres, can't remember playing Wolverhampton Grand before. It should be a debut to remember.
Hairspray will also run at Birmingham Hippodrme from October 25 to November 6.
Paul Marston
CALENDAR GIRLS might have to move
up from buns to muffins with the new cast for its retrun to the
Birmingham Hippodrome in June.
The show
has been the fastest selling tour ever selling out
three months before ir’s February dat in Birmingham.
The new cast lined up for summer
includes Elizabeth Bennett, Anne Charleston, Gemma Craven, Charlie
Dimmock, Letitia Dean, Su Holderness, Hannah Waterman and Dean Gaffney
as the photographer
The play is based on the true story of a group of ordinary women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire WI, who sparked a global phenomenon by persuading one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference!
As interest snowballs, the Calendar Girls find
themselves revealing more than they’d ever planned…
Elizabeth Bennett’s long career includes
stints working on both sides of the Atlantic though she’s probably best
known in the UK as Enid Thompson in Home to Roost and for her
regular appearances on Heartbeat. Anne Charleston is best
known as Madge in Neighbours. More recently, she’s been back on
our screens as Lily Butterfield in Emmerdale. Gemma Craven
shot to fame as Cinderalla in the film The Slipper and the Rose
in which she starred opposite Richard Chamberlain. Other credits include
Dennis Potter’s Pennies from Heaven as well as appearing in the
long running Irish television series The Clinic.
Charlie Dimmock makes her stage debut in
Calendar Girls having become one of the nation’s favourite gardeners
through her appearances on Ground Force, The Joy of Gardening and
Charlie’s Garden. Letitia Dean, who returns for the June date,
is best known as Sharon Watts in Eastenders a role she played
from the opening episode for over ten years. Since leaving the show she
has continued to make regular appearances back in Walford Square. In
2007 she was a much loved contestant on Strictly Come Dancing
making it through to the quarter final. Another Eastender,
Dean Gaffney stars as the photographer. Dean played Robbie Jackson
in the soap for eleven years and, more recently, appeared on I’m a
Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
Su Holderness was Marlene Boyce in the BBC’s hugely popular Only Fools and Horses as well as the spin off series The Green Green Grass. On stage, Su’s credits include Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking and How the Other Half Loves. Hannah Waterman, who returns for the June date, is probably best known as Ian Beale’s long suffering wife Laura in Eastenders. She joins the tour of Calendar Girls direct from the West End production. Tracy Briggs, Mikyla Dodd, Su Douglas, John Labanowski and Colin Tarrant complete the cast.
Calendar Girls
runs at Birmingham Hippodrome from 28 June – 3 July. Perf times.
Eves 7.30pm; Wed mat 2pm; Sat mat 2.30pm. tickets £15
- £32.50. Book
online at
www.birminghamhippodrome.com or telephone 0844 338 5000.
(Calls vary from 5pm per min, transaction charge 6% phone and counter,
3% online.
CBSO cooking up the food of love
WHEN the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra played cupid for
one Midland couple it seems only fitting that they should mark their
Valentine’s celebrations as man and wife at
the CBSO’s Film Music for Lovers concert on Friday 12
February at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
For Robert Davies, there’s not a more appropriate way to treat his wife
Catherine than with this special concert which features live orchestral
performances of romantic music from hit movies such as Gone With the
Wind and Titanic.
Robert, 60 from Kidderminster, said, “The CBSO is a huge part of mine
and Catherine’s lives together. After all, if it
wasn’t for dangling the carrot of a CBSO concert, we’d have never got
together in the first place!”
But before experiencing the soaring heights of the concert hall
together, their relationship first saw the light of day, or in this case
probably didn't, in an underground in a car park: “I met Catherine
because she was a night time receptionist in an office building in
Brindleyplace whose car park I used when attending CBSO concerts.
I’d come back from a concert on a complete high from the music
and would talk enthusiastically to Catherine about it.”
Catherine said, “He’d tell me all about how much he’d enjoyed the
performance and I just happened to mention that I’d never been to a
classical music concert. With that, he gave me his
business card and told me to ring if ever I wanted to go with him”.
“I waited three weeks for the phone call!” recalls Robert. “But when we
did eventually go to Symphony Hall to see a CBSO concert together
featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s romantic telling of Scheherazade, that was
it – we instantly clicked”
Robert and Catherine married on 6 October 2009 at Birmingham’s registry
office, which just so happens to be right opposite CBSO Centre where the
Orchestra rehearse.
Catherine recalls about the special day; “We were thrilled to see
friendly faces waving from the windows of CBSO Centre, and to receive a
huge card signed by the whole orchestra who were glad to hear we’d found
love through their music and were grateful for our support of the CBSO.”
The CBSO’s Film Music for Lovers concert, conducted by Michael Seal and presented by Tommy Pearson, is on Friday 12 February, 7.30pm at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Tickets are £9.50 - £39.50 and can be booked by calling Symphony Hall Box Office on 0121 780 3333 or online at www.cbso.co.uk.
Sleeping Beauty arises in celebration
SLEEPING BEAUTY: Nao Sakuma as Princess Aurora and Chi Cao as Prince Florimund. Photos - Bill Cooper
THIS year is going to be special for Midland ballet fans with the 20th anniversary celebrations of the arrival in Birmingham of the Saddler’s Wells Royal Ballet to become the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
The Birmingham Hippodrome became their home and they return to the stage there for the first time in their anniversary year with Sir Peter Wright’s timeless production of the classic fairytale The Sleeping Beauty.
Considered by many to be one of the greatest classical ballets from
Imperial Russia, The Sleeping Beauty, which incidentally is celebrating
its own 120th anniversary this year, will be performed during Birmingham
Royal Ballet’s spring season before heading off on a UK Tour that will
include dates at the London Coliseum during the Saddler’s Wells Spring
Dance Season. 
With a cast of more than 80, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s lavish production tells the story of Princess Auroa, named after the dawn.
Her father, King Florestan XIV, invites six fairies to her christening to be her godmothers.
Fatally the king did not invite the wicked fairy Carabosse which was perhaps not the best move politically especially when she turns up anyway as a furious gatecrasher and lays a curse on the Princess that she will one day prick her finger and die.
DEEP SLEEP
Luckily, the Lilac Fairy declares that although Aurora will indeed prick her finger she will not die, but instead she will fall into a deep sleep from which she will be awoken after a hundred years by the kiss of a handsome prince.
So a hundred years later - or a couple of hours at any rate - the Lilac Fairy finds a willing prince and, like all good magical fairy stories we are on our way to living happily ever after.
With Tchaikovsky’s score and original choreography by Marius Petipa, the thrilling production is by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director laureate, Sir Peter Wright, creator of the Company’s popular production of The Nutcracker.Philip Prowse, the designer responsible for the Company’s Swan Lake, provides the designs for sumptuous baroque style sets and over 150 beautiful hand-sewn costumes adding the grandeur to lighting by Mark Jonathan.
This was Tchaikovsky’s second ballet, arriving 13 years after Swan Lake, with a premier 120 years ago in January 1890 in St Petersburg and over the years it has come to be regarded as his finest ballet score.
The full ballet, with intermissions, runs to almost four hours - CDs of the score alone with no applause or breaks run to just short of three hours - so it is not surprising that the ballet is usually trimmed even so this stunning production is set to run for two hours 55 minutes.
A ballet for all the family, The Sleeping Beauty runs from Wednesday 3 March – Saturday 13 March 2010, and marks the start of the 20th anniversary celebrations commemorating the Company’s relocation to Birmingham Hippodrome in 1990.
Tour dates: Sunderland Empire,17 – 20 March 2010; Theatre Royal, Plymouth 23 – 27 March 2010; The Lowry, Salford 30 March – 3 April 2010; London Coliseum 20 April – 24 April 2010.
Birmingham's finest relatively the best
Theory into practice: Elisha Willis and Joseph Caley in David Bintley's E=mc². Picture: Bill Cooper
THERE
was a degree of irony in ITV hosting The South Bank Show awards less
than month after it had pulled the plug on the programme and almost 32
years to the day since the first programme was broadcast.
Its demise though hardly
diminishes the prestige of its awards and Birmingham Royal Ballet
scooped the final accolade, the last ever award for dance for David
Bintley’s E=mc²
at
the swansong ceremony hosted by the man who was The South Bank Show,
Melvyn Bragg.
Based on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, E=mc²,
choreographed by Bintley, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director, enjoyed
its world premiere at Birmingham Hippodrome in September 2009 as part of
the triple bill Quantum Leaps and delighted audiences during the
Company’s autumn 2009 tour.
E=mc²
is set to a specially commissioned score by Australian composer Matthew
Hindson with costumes by Kate Ford and lighting by Peter Mumford and was
inspired by the book E=mc²: A Biography of the World’s Most
Famous Equation from author David Bodanis.
Other nominees in
the category were Wayne McGregor’s Limen and dance group
Diversity, winners of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent programme.
Speaking at the ceremony Bintley said: “I
am delighted to win The South Bank Show dance award for E=mc² in
Birmingham Royal Ballet's 20th anniversary year. This award celebrates
the company's creative collaborations, the talent of the dancers and
highlights my commitment to producing new work that will take Birmingham
Royal Ballet forward into another exciting year and decade.”
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s chief executive, Christopher Barron said:
“This
prestigious award comes at a significant time for Birmingham Royal
Ballet as the company prepares to celebrate 20 years in the City of
Birmingham. The recognition for dance at The South Bank Show Awards not
only celebrates the work of David Bintley and Birmingham Royal Ballet
but also highlights the strength of the company and the arts in
Birmingham as it moves forward in its bid for the City of Culture in
2013.”
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra were also flying the flag for Birmingham taking the the Classical Music Award.
This was reward for the he CBSO’s collaboration with the Hallé, when between the two world-class orchestras, all six symphonies by the Danish composer Carl Nielson were performed in both Birmingham and Manchester from January to February 2009. The project was dubbed “The Inextinguishable” - after Nielsen’s best-known Fourth Symphony which the CBSO used to launch the cycle in Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
The next appearance of the Birmingham Royal Ballet at Birmingham
Hippodrome is in Sleeping Beauty which runs from March 3 to March 13.
THE NEXT 12 months will be an exciting one for
Introduced by Alan Titchmarsh,
radio and television presenter and passionate ballet fan, the
programme will include excerpts from Birmingham Royal
Ballet’s and The Royal Ballet Sinfonia’s diverse repertory.
Under the baton of Principal
Conductor Paul Murphy, The Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Britain's busiest
ballet orchestra will perform music highlights from celebrated composers
including Sibelius, Mahler (2010 marks the 150th anniversary
of Mahler’s birth), Addinsell, Bliss, Mussorgsky, Ravel and Carl Davis.
Birmingham Royal Ballet Artists,
including Principal dancers Nao Sakuma, Carol-Anne Millar, Gaylene
Cummerfield, Robert Parker, Jamie Bond and Matthew Lawrence will perform
short excerpts from the Company’s forthcoming season, including pas de
deux from The Sleeping Beauty and Slaughter on
A highlight of the evening will be
the
An Evening of
Music and Dance,
Symphony Hall,
http://www.thsh.co.uk/view/an-evening-of-music-and-dance-from-the-ballet
Four into one is just fine
Getting the bird: Chris Simmonds gets to grip with a whole flock in the RSC property workshop
THE Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford upon Avon has taken on four new apprentices as part of its Craft Apprenticeship Scheme.
This is just part of the RSC’s new Think Theatre initiative, which encourages more people to consider theatre as a career..
Chris Simmonds, aged 18, from Lower Quinton, near Stratford upon Avon, and a former pupils at Chipping Campden School, has joined the property workshop on a three year apprenticeship after A-levels in Product Design, Media Studies and Psychology.
Chris works with Head of Props, John Evans, and recently made 25
collapsing roses for Twelfth Night and is currently working on a latex
screen for Arabian Nights.
Chris has always had an interest in theatre and has enjoyed every second
of his apprenticeship so far.
Paul Riddle, aged 28, from Birmingham, (pictured left) has joined the Scenic Art Department as a paintshop apprentice. He is originally from Santiago in Chile and moved to Glasgow with his mother when he was 17.
He studied multi-media design and production and his subsequent jobs in Glasgow and Birmingham have included working in the music and creative industries, in call centres, offices, comedy clubs, clothes shops and pubs. To date, Paul has worked on Twelfth Night, A Tender Thing and the Julius Caesar floor. He started during one of the department’s busiest times as they were working from 9am to 6pm on Twelfth Night. Paul is also a musician and enjoys photography and graphic design.
JOINERY SHOP
Will Fagan, aged 19 from Leamington Spa is an apprentice in the Scenic Workshops. Will had settled on a career in carpentry and was working in a joinery shop
Apprenticed to the scenic workshop, Leamington Spa born and bred Will is 19 years old.
After attempting A Levels, Will settled on a foundation course in carpentry, and then found a job in a joinery workshop. So far he’s worked on making big flats, panels and stairs. He is surprised at the amount of steel-work that is involved in sets and is looking forward to have a go at that.
In the same workshop is Sam Reynolds, also 19, seem below, left, with Will) from Leamington who previously worked for Paul Dyer, a Stratford upon Avon based landscape gardener. The job took him to Scotland for six months when he worked on JK Rowling’s garden.
19 year old Sam is from Leamington Spa and is on a bench joinery course at Morton Morrell, Warwickshire College. He is finding his apprenticeship ‘brilliant’.
Sam was expecting to be treated as a labourer, sweeping up and picking
up after people but has found himself thrown in at the deep end.
He is constantly observed, but he has found much more trust in
his abilities and work than he has found in his experience on a building
site.
So far, he has worked on a few different floors – including the Twelfth Night floor, and helped make the trap door used by Richard Wilson and James Fleet.
Vikki Heywood, RSC Executive Director said: “It’s great to welcome Chris, Paul, Will and Sam to the RSC. It’s a win-win situation for us: we get to benefit from the skills they will develop here, and the apprentices get to start their careers working with our highly talented craftspeople.
THINKING THEATRE
“The Scheme illustrates perfectly our new campaign Think Theatre. We feel very passionately about promoting the theatre industry to school, college and university leavers, and we want to build a more diverse workforce here in Stratford, drawn from right across the West Midlands region. Our campaign kicks off with a specially commissioned film trailer, created by RSC actor and film director, Chris McGill, which we will be sharing with schools, careers services and via social media. The film encourages those making career choices to consider the enormous range of jobs in the theatre industry – not just acting, but everything from finance to carpentry and costume-making.
“This new Apprenticeship Scheme is just one of the many career development opportunities we offer. Last year over 150 schoolchildren and young people joined us at our Open Doors and A Taste of Theatre events, or on one of the work placements we regularly offer across many areas of the company.”
More information about Think Theatre can be found at www.rsc.org.uk/thinktheatre
Since they started, the apprentices have been working on RSC productions including Twelfth Night, Arabian Nights, Julius Caesar and A Tender Thing.
Each of the apprentices receives an annual salary, plus funding for all training and development, as well as financial support towards travel and accommodation arrangements.
Details of other career opportunities
A Taste of Theatre
A week-long work experience opportunity in
Open Doors
Open to students in Years 12 and 13 (16-18 year-olds), this careers day
gives students the chance to take part in a number of workshops run by
various departments across the whole organisation, demonstrating how
they contribute to the running of the RSC.
Undergraduate Placement Schemes
The RSC offers student placement opportunities in well over twenty RSC
departments (and that number is still increasing). These spells of
practical work experience, ranging from two weeks to three months, offer
those aged over 18, who have usually begun their theatre-related studies
on a university course, an opportunity to put their learning into
practice alongside more experienced colleagues.
These unpaid internships are advertised in much the same way as
other RSC vacancies, with applicants shortlisted after declared closing
dates, interviewed and subsequently supervised by the relevant
department head.
Further details of these can be found via
www.rsc.org.uk/jobs
Nutcracker
off the menu until 2011
BIRMINGHAM Royal Ballet's acclaimed version of The
Nutcracker will become the notcracker next Christmas when it fails to
take to the stage at the Hippodrome for the first time in several years.
But before fans start spluttering in their sprouts amd choking on the
turkey its absebnce is because BRB will be perfomaning a completley new
version of CInderella
choreographed
by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Director
The full-length, narrative ballet reunites the design team behind The Nutcracker.
MAGICAL DESIGNS
John Macfarlane’s extravagant and magical designs are currently enthralling audiences of all ages at Birmingham Hippodrome in The Nutcracker which is one of the post popular ballets in the company's repertoire and a firm Christmas favourite.
"The announcement of a new production shows the company continues to go from strength to strength in this great city."
Meanwhile The Nutcracker runs until Sunday 13 December and will not appar at the Hippodrome again until 2011.
*Friday 11 –
Sunday 13 December performances are now sold out
Biggins set for 2010 Twanky role
This year he appeared on Channel 4’s popular programme Come Dine With Me, along with Philip Olivier with his dinner party crowned overall winner. But behind all that is a performer who has appeared in panto for almost 40 years and Widow Twankey will be no stranger to him.
My own children more than 20 years ago, used to be taken to the Theatre Royal, Brighton, by their grandfather to see Biggins in some panto or other as a Christmas treat for several years.
Biggins said: “I am delighted to confirm that next year I will be treading the boards (and donning Widow Twankey’s frocks) in Wolverhampton!
This won’t be my first performance at the Grand, but it is my first pantomime there so I’m incredibly excited to be performing in one of the country’s biggest and best-loved venues.”
Roger Clarke.
Tickets for this year’s panto Cinderella starring Stefan Dennis, Niki Evans and The Krankies are still available to purchase online at www.grandtheatre.co.uk or via the Box Office on 01902 42 92 12.
Edgar premier is Rep highlight
The world premiere of Arthur & George adapted for the stage by internationally acclaimed playwright David Edgar leads the line up of productions at Birmingham Rep next year.
The programme also includes Alan
Bennett’s latest play The Habit of Art.
The season opens in the Main House in February with
Brian Friel’s Olivier award-winning play
Dancing At Lughnasa. Directed by
Tamara Harvey, Friel’s masterpiece is a bittersweet
reflection on life in rural Ireland in the 1930s.
David Edgar’s powerful new stage adaptation of Arthur & George, based on Julian Barnes’ semi-fictional novel and featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, brings vividly to life the events of a hundred years ago which made sensational headlines as The Great Wyrley Outrages. As gripping as any of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries, Arthur & George will be directed by The REP’s Artistic Director, Rachel Kavanaugh.
The Great Wyrley Outrages involved the slashing of six horses in the village which lies just south of Cannock. Local solicitor George Edalji (pictured right), an Anglo-Indian, was arrested, tried and in October 1903 was sentenced to seven years hard labour in what was to become a celebrated miscarriage of justice. Staffordshire Police, with no evidence, were sure the attacks on the horses had been a sacrifice to pagan Gods.
Edalji was released in 1906 but not pardoned and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was asked to turn detective and clear him, which he finally did the following year. The case was responsible for the setting up of the court of criminal appeal.
For more on the Great Wyrley Outrages click here and for more on George Edalji click here
For Summer a major new production of Michael Frayn’s
fantastic comic romp, Noises Off is set to raise The
REP’s roof with laughter. Directed by Ian Talbot this multi
award-winning classic British comedy has been enjoyed by millions since
it premiered in 1982
Samantha Ellis’ play Cling
To Me Like Ivy was
Commissioned by The REP and will open the
season in The Door. This brand new play was inspired by a chance remark
by Victoria Beckham in 2004 which sparked a crisis within the Orthodox
Jewish community about the wigs worn by married Orthodox Jewish women.
Samantha wrote the play whilst on attachment to The REP and following
its premiere in The Door the production will tour the region, supported
by the Sir Barry Jackson Trust.
Throughout March and April, The Door will play host to a series of plays inspired by the issues facing young people today. Starting with the questions ‘what kind of plays should theatre present for young people?’ and ‘are there plays or subjects that theatre is too scared to tackle?’ the series will feature a range of plays suitable for young audiences.
These include the UK premieres of
Lutz Hübner’s controversial play about an honour killing, Respect,
and Ben Musgrave’s Exams Are Getting Easier commissioned
by The REP for The Young REP youth theatre. Also in this series will be
Half Moon Theatre’s play about an two inseparable friends
Begin End and 20 Stories High production of the anarchic and
energetic play Ghost Boy, plus a range of new writing
from young people aged 18 – 30 developed through The REP’s Grass Routes
programme.
Behna (Punjabi for sisters), a
special site-specific play and a co-production with Kali Theatre, will
take place in various kitchens across the City during March. This new
play by Sonia Likari is a thought provoking
look through the keyhole at family secrets and sibling rivalry set
against a backdrop of weddings, births and separations.
Visiting The REP as part of a
national tour will be Spike Milligan’s celebrated war memoirs which are
brought to the stage in the gloriously absurd and exuberant hit comedy
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall which was
premiered at the Bristol Old Vic in June this year. (Pictured below is
Milligan giving the German side a hand).
Other highlights for the season
include; the spiffing West End production of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic
spy thriller The 39 Steps; Charlie and
Lola’s Best Bestest Play – the stars of the hit BBC TV series
and books by Lauren Child are brought to life by a magical mix of
puppets and music; the Royal Court production of Debbie Tucker Green’s
Random, Graeae Theatre’s Signs of a Diva
plus much more. Looking ahead to September and following a sell-out
success in London, the National Theatre’s production of Alan Bennett’s
The Habit of Art comes to The REP.
This play reflects on growing old, creativity and inspiration, and on
persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.
The REP will also play host to several two high profile dance events in 2010. The International Dance Festival 2010 brings two shows to Birmingham; Sutra, performed by 17 Shaolin monks from the original Shaolin Temple in China with design from Turner Prize winning artist Antony Gormley and Circa a brand new circus experience, combined with movement, dance, light, sound and video. As the City also hosts British Dance Edition, the UK dance industry’s leading showcase event, there will be opportunities to see the latest work from Arthur Pita, Jasmin Vardimon Company and Vincent Dance Theatre.
The announcement of the Spring and Summer 2010 season also brings news of The REP’s magical Christmas production for 2010. Following a successful history of co-productions, The REP will once again be working with West Yorkshire Playhouse to present a brand new musical adaptation of the classic children’s story The Secret Garden.
CONSTRUCTION WORK
Christmas 2010 will also mark The
REP’s last production on site before it moves out to enable construction
work to happen for the new Library of Birmingham development. The
theatre will close its doors in January 2011 but will be producing work
in a variety of venues across the city for the following two years
before returning to its home in 2013.
As part of the two year off site programme The REP will return to producing work at the Old Rep Theatre. This historic venue was, of course, the original home of Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and when it opened in 1913 was the first purpose-built repertory theatre in the country. The decision to return to the Old Rep is a fitting one as the theatre moves towards its Centenary Year.
Other venues with which The REP will be working include the new mac and the Crescent Theatre. In addition to performing in these traditional theatre-spaces, The REP will also be producing several large-scale events in non-theatrical spaces in the city as well as expanding its already extensive programme of learning and participation work with young people and communities.
Tennant back at the RSC
DAVID Tennant, added his support to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s
Transforming our Theatres Appeal when he visited the site of the new
theatre for the first time since performing
Hamlet at The Courtyard
Theatre last year.
Following a tour of the new buildings, Tennant took his seat in the main
auditorium, which is currently under construction, to raise awareness of
the Take a Seat appeal.
More than 500 seats have already been named in the auditorium, some for
a favourite actor, director or to mark an anniversary, for an individual
or to commemorate somebody’s life.
Actors who have already had a seat named after them include David
Suchet, John Thaw, Ian Richardson and Dame Peggy Ashcroft, so there’s
plenty of opportunity for people to name a seat after a favourite actor.
The transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is due for
completion at the end of 2010 at a cost of £112.8 million.
Arts Council England is providing £50 million while Advantage West
Midlands is contributing £20 million with the balance, £42.8 million
from public subscription and donations.
There is still £10 million left to raise and there are a number of
different ways that the public can contribute, from dropping their spare
change in collection buckets to sponsoring a brick online.
Caroline Jones, the director of development, said: “We’ve been
overwhelmed with support. More than 7,000 people from 43 different
countries have made donations towards the re-building of our theatres in
Stratford Upon Avon.
“People have given to the appeal for lots of different reasons, often
it’s because of the important role that the
“We still have some way to go. Raising money in the current economic
climate is tough but I’m confident that, with our track record of
success and the excitement surrounding this project, we will reach our
target.
“Naming a Seat in the new auditorium is a way to contribute vital funds
to the project, as well as creating a strong association with the
Company and our future. David’s support for the seat appeal means a lot
to us.”
To find out more information about the
Transforming Our Theatres project and how people can get involved visit
www.rsc.org.uk/transformation.
Donation levels to name a seat start at £50 per month over 24 months or
a one-off contribution of £1,200.
Seats can also be named at the level of £2, 500 and £5,000.
Sadler's Wells Spring season
launched
The Saddler's Wells spring 2010 season includes
three world premieres, 16 UK premieres, three Sadler’s Wells
Productions, and six co-commissions and goes on sale from Monday,
November 16.
The Programme encompasses multi-cultural and cross-art form collaborations, national and international stars and emerging artists, plus a wide range of styles from flamenco to bollywood and kathak to tango.
season of almost 50 events, the Spring 2010 Season follows an unprecedented year of audience attendance, with over half a million people visiting the theatre. The season includes the world premiere of the winning dance entry from Sadler’s Wells’ online Global Dance Contest, performing alongside international stars as part of Sadler’s Wells Sampled in January.
GROUNDBREAKING WORK
In keeping with the theatre’s mission to support groundbreaking work, April brings Sadler’s Wells’ critically acclaimed co-production with the Young Vic, Pictures from an Exhibition. Premiering in May 2009 this remarkable work, directed by Daniel Kramer and choreographed by Frauke Requardt, redefines the relationship between dance and theatre.
Meanwhile in May and July two Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists, Hofesh Shechter and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui present new works. The Lilian Baylis Studio continues to show smaller scale, experimental and highly imaginative works such as Ivana Müller’s Playing Ensemble Again & Again, many of which challenge perceptions of what dance is today.
At the London Coliseum, the Spring Dance partnership presents some of the finest companies from around the world. Particular highlights include the stellar Carlos Acosta dancing with his native company, Ballet Nacional de Cuba for the first time in the UK, and Mark Morris’ seminal work L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with live music from ENO’s Orchestra and soloists.
INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED
Drama and passion simmer throughout the season; from the annual Flamenco Festival,and the return of the Cuban hit Havana Rakatan reviving post-Christmas fatigue, to The Merchants of Bollywood electrifying the Peacock Theatre in May, legendary guitarist Paco Peña returning in June, and the internationally acclaimed tango show Tanguera, making its UK premiere in August.
New initiatives include the Sadler’s Wells Screen, which now hosts all of the theatre’s video footage in one place. Sadler’s Wells Screen displays video clips of forthcoming and past shows, interviews with artists, footage of the theatre’s education and outreach projects, behind the scenes rehearsal footage and cutting edge new dance films. These can be found at www.sadlerswells.com/screen.
Sadler’s Wells Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300
www.sadlerswells.com
Peacock Theatre Ticket Office: 0844 412 4322
http://www.sadlerswells.com/screen
Skills put in the spotlight
BIRMINGHHAM Hippodrome,
one of the UK’s most popular theatres, has recently launched a Creative
Apprenticeship Scheme as part of the government initiative through
Creative and Cultural Skills.
Working with Stratford–upon-Avon College the scheme offers
apprenticeships in Cultural and Heritage Venue Operations working front
of house in the Customer Services department - learning while earning.
Glen Ivison, HR Manager for Birmingham Hippodrome said “We believe we
are the first theatre in the country to offer this scheme and currently
have five people working with our existing Front of House team. Our
partner Stratford-upon-Avon College has a great reputation for training
and we are delighted to be working with them”.
The scheme provides students with the opportunity to work in one of the
UK’s largest theatres attracting 500,000 visitors a year.
Students will be trained in all aspects of venue operations whilst
working alongside trainers from Stratford-upon-Avon College.
The scheme operates for one year and ensures students achieve at least
Level 2 National Award Creative Apprenticeships.
Edward Pinner, Creative and Cultural Partnership
Manager for Stratford-upon-Avon College,
said, “We are thrilled to be working with a venue as prestigious as
Birmingham Hippodrome. We hope this new partnership will be the start of
a long term relationship and one that will make a significant
contribution to the training and skills development of young people
working in the Creative and Cultural sector.”
The current scheme is now full but the theatre will be introducing a Creative Apprenticeship in Technical Theatre (Rigging, Lighting and Sound) in early 2010.
Further information can be obtained by logging
onto the theatre’s website
www.birminghamhippodrome.com
For further information on the government’s
Creative and Cultural Skills go to
www.ccskills.org.uk