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Everyday story of country folk
Soldier, soldier won't you marry me? Elisha Willis as Bathsheba Everdene and Iain Mackay as Sergeant Francis Troy Pictures: Bill Cooper Far from the Madding Crowd Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome **** IT is amazing just how quickly Joseph
Caley is maturing as a dancer. The 25-year-old, like Robert Parker, from
Hull, was just superb as Gabriel Oak. For those who remember Alan Bates in the role in
John Schlesinger's 1967 film, Caley might look a little young and fresh
faced but I suspect we might still be saying that about him in years to
come when he is collecting his pension. Looking younger than you are is the nearest
anyone gets to eternal youth. Caley manages to bring a great deal of animation to the character of the young farmer who loses out twice to the fickle and flirty Bathsheba Everdene, danced beautifully by Elisha Willis who seems to spend most of the night being physically abused by the men in her life – Gabriel excepted of course. And then there is Sgt Troy, the tall, dashing,
dark, devilishly handsome rake of the tale who appears to think fidelity
is something to do with violins as he leaps from bed to bed in an early
version of multi-tasking. The athletic Iain Mackay revels in the role,
displaying romance and passion as he woos and marries Bathsheba, then
uncontrolled sorrow when he discovers Bathsheba's servant, Fanny Robin
and her child, which is also his, are dead. Jenna Roberts, who plays Fanny, has the dubious
delight of spending much of act two in a coffin. Elisha Willis's Bathsheba with Joseph Caley as the shepherd Gabriel After supposedly committing suicide the
distraught Troy then pops up in a travelling circus where he is an
acrobat and then a prize fighter and finally Dick Turpin on a
brilliantly novel horse which looks suspiciously like a disguised
bicycle, all great fun. This is Thomas Hardy though so fun is a bit of an
accident and we are soon back to heavy duty misery as first Boldwood
tries to marry Bathsheba then the supposedly dead Troy turns up only for
Boldwood to settle any argument by shooting him dead, for which he is
shipped off to an asylum for his pains. Gabriel, sensibly, decides to get out before any
more misfortune can befall anyone, particularly him, but in a touching
final scene Bathsheba realises the error of her ways and begs him not to
leave her and we end with them in each other's arms . . . ahhhhh. All good stuff. We were advised to read the
synopsis first and that was good advice. David Bintley's choreography is
excellent with some brilliant folk-inspired dances by the whole company
– but this is a 400 page book and that is a lot to explain just by
dance. Caley, who still looks rather as if he has had to
ask his head teacher's permission to appear, has grown up considerably as a dancer and
now commands a stage when he dances with that ability of making it all
look so elegant and easy. Mind you, impressive dancing or not, Gabriel's
chances of making Bathsheba the love of his life diminish somewhat when
he loses his farm and ends up asking her for a job as a shepherd. When Bathsheba's uncle dies she inherits his farm
and decides to run it herself, making her a prize catch among the
eligible, and not so eligible, bachelors of the village except for her
rich neighbour William Boldwood that is, who resists her charms.
Boldwood is elegant and aloof in the hands of
Matthew Lawrence. Once you have an idea of what is going on, the
story just flows from a scene setting opener to the darker second act to
the fun third with its happy ending – as long as you are not Troy or
Boldwood that is. As always the company add to the colour of the
piece with crowds, a madding one we presume, circus performers such as a
clown, Grimaldi played by Tzu-Chao Chou while Carol-Anne Millar pops up
as a bearded lady. In the background we even had fire-eater Pat Cross .
. . eating fire. The ballet was first seen in its premiere at the
Hippodrome 16 years ago, and the sets, by Hayen Griffin, are big and
wonderful to give us barns, village squares, fine houses and farms all
appearing by huge panels gliding in a giant frame while the lighting, by
Mark Jonathan, deserved a round of applause on its own for amazing
realism and a dramatic storm, all enhanced by Paul Reade's score which
was given some real life by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under conductor
Paul Murphy. It is a pity that ballet only manages six performances
before being put back in the BRB playbox. It deserves more. To
23-06-12. Roger Clarke
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