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Reluctant lothario: Robert Parker as the shy Will Mossop who is not going to escape the attentions of his wife-to-be Maggie played by Elisha Willis - picture Bill Cooper Hobson's Choice Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome ***** ACCORDING to the old adage you should
never work with children or animals - and you can probably add chairs to
that list in Robert Parker's case. He came a cropper when the chair fell over as he
performed his celebrated backward leap on to its seat as Will Mossop in
David Bintley's lovingly told version of Harold Brighouse's 1915 play
set in Salford in the 1880s. But this is Robert Parker we are talking about and he was up in a flash, shaken not stirred as you might say, and carried on as if nothing had happened like a real trouper to give yet another sparkling and memorable performance. Parker, who is slowly edging from principal
dancer towards his new job as artistic director of
Elmshurst School for Dance, has been one of the delights of ballet for
more than a decade and is always a joy to watch. He has that ability to
make his dancing look easy and natural and with all the comic undertones
and acting opportunities afforded by Will he is in his element. With Elisha Willis equally superb as Henry
Hobson's eldest daughter, a bit of an old maid in terms of Salford in
1880 if truth be told, the pair make a charming couple you can take to
your heart. And that is the cornerstone of the ballet because
behind it all in the play, its many film adaptations and David Bintley's
masterful BRB creation, is a simple love story with the unworldywise shy
cobbler and the lonely spinster finding love at last providing some very
funny and some very touching moments. There is much of evidence of the influence of
silent movies in the ballet, some scenes are positively Chaplinesque and
at times you could be in Mary Poppins or My Fair Lady as BRB give us a
tender and funny story without words. Even the music by Paul Reade is reminiscent of
the sweeping themes and soft focus melodies of the era of black and
white films, beautifully played by The Royal Ballet Sinfonia under
Philip Ellis.
It is not surprised then to discover that Bintley
had found his inspiration in the 1954 David Lean film version starring
Charles Laughton as Henry Hobson and John Mills as Will. It was a strong
story, with strong easily defined characters and, most important to
Bintley, according to the programme notes “it immediately conjured up in
my mind images of movement.” The ballet has remained unchanged since it first
appeared in 1989 and the story is a simple one of bootmaker Henry
Hobson, who spends his life either sobering up or getting drunk, and his
three daughters. The youngest Vickey (Carol- Anne Millar) is being
courted by Fred Beenstock (Matthew Lawrence) the wealthy son of a corn
merchant while the middle daughter Alice (Victoria Marr) has fallen for
young lawyer Albert Prosser (Jonathan Payn) who introduces himself by
taking on a bunch of flowers and losing. The two
couples put in a wonderful performance bringing the stage to life. Oh and then up there on the shelf we have Maggie
who is courted by . . . no one (let's have a big ahhhh) Maggie is the hard working brains of the
operation, running the shop virtually singlehanded apart from Will, who
it seems lives and works somewhere in the cellar turning out all the
shoes and boots for sale. Unseen by him she sees him dance in clogs he has
made and falls head over heels, soles and toecaps in love so to speak
for the bashful cobbler who reluctantly dances with her, pointing out
the vast gulf between their social standings. She perseveres and when Henry sobers up enough to
realise what is going on he takes his belt to the young whippersnapper
Will which drives Maggie – and his business away. There is a clever marriage scene followed by a
reception in Will's lowly shop and lodgings with a very funny and
touching scene as Maggie tries to get her reluctant, nervous,
inexperienced husband of less than a day into bed.
As time passes Will and Maggie's own boot
business prospers while Henry is facing both sobriety and bankruptcy and
eventually has no choice but to hand over the shop to Will and slip into
the background in return for his former employee and disowned daughter
paying off his debts. In between we have the formation dancing team of the Salvation Army, which included Joseph Caley and Nao Sakuma among their excellent number, warning of the dangers of demon drink in a stunning park scene that would grace any musical on any stage anywhere in the world. But despite the persuasion of the Salvationists
it was the hallucinations turning his drinking buddies Kit Holder,
Oliver Till and Rory Mackay into pink headed mice that turned old Henry
back on to the straight and sober. Apparently this scene baffled Hong Kong audiences
where perhaps there is no tradition of pink mice and elephants, snakes
coming through the walls and the general menagerie of horror that is the
stock in trade in a portrayal of the sodden mind of the hardened
drinking man. It was a pleasure to see David Morse back as a
guest artist playing Henry incidentally. Morse retired as BRB video
archivist last year and almost immediately was seriously ill but another
sparkling performance in one of his repertoire roles shows he has made a
remarkable recovery. His wife, Ballet Mistress Marion Tait, gave her
usual imperious performance as Mrs Hepworth the Hobson shop's wealthiest
and most important customer, who incidentally provides Will with the
money he needs to start his own business. The whole show is a visual treat from beginning
to end with Hayden Griffin's solid period designs and clean, realistic
and atmospheric lighting from John B. Read all adding to the production,
all in wonderful authentic period costume while the dancing could
not be faulted - and what a choice of dance. There is ballroom, ballet,
a little bit of jazz and those wonderful clog dances which were once a
common feature in the north of England. Will Mossop says at the end “Bah gum” as he
surveys his own happy ending and as ballets go you might add
“ahhh an' bah ‘eck it wurr a reet gradely neet.” Which is Lanky
for a cracking evening's entertainment. To 25-02-12. Roger Clarke
*Harold Brighouse's
play about industrial life in Salford in 1880, Northern accents and all,
was first produced, bizarrely, in in New York and what they made
of trouble at' mill, or at least at' cobblers is lost in history. The reason was that fellow Mancunian Ben Iden
Payne, who had produced his earlier plays and was a great supporter of
Brighouse, was working there at the time. It moved to London a year
later to huge success.
And the boot on the other foot . . . ***** IT'S rare to hear a word spoken in a
ballet, but when when Robert Parker glances around the Lancashire boot
business he has married into and is about to take over, he puffs out his
chest, front of stage, and gasps: "Bah Gum". Many in the audience felt just like that as they
headed for home after seeing the Birmingham Royal Ballet perform this
version of Harold Brighouse's classic tale, beautifully choreographed by
David Bintley. Parker plays the lowly boot hand Will Mossop
whose skill in making footwear pulls in quality customers for
hard-drinking Henry Hobson's shop. But when his spinster daughter Maggie
- the brains behind the business - decides to marry the shy employee,
angry Henry takes his belt to him. However, Maggie, beautifully acted and danced by
Elisha Willis, knows the potential of Will despite the social divide and
cleverly proceeds to get her own way, even though the unlikely couple
have to set up their own shop in opposition in order to reach their
goal.
Although Parker wasn't supposed to fall
head-over-heels in love with his boss, he went pretty close on opening
night when he hopped onto a chair, flipped backwards and crashed on the
stage...fortunately avoiding injury and able to continue dancing
brilliantly. As a teenager, BRB director Bintley loved the old
black-and-white film starring Charles Laughton and John Mills, and when
he saw it again years later he thought: "There's a ballet in this", and
with the help of composer Paul Read, brought it to the stage. Unusually Bintley hasn't revised the ballet since
creating it nearly a quarter of a century ago. Why mend something that's
not broke, as the saying goes. There are some beautiful scenes, particularly one
in a park, featuring dancing Salvationists, and another with clog
dancers. David Morse is excellent as the drunken Hobson,
and there are outstanding performances from Carol-Anne Millar and
Victoria Marr, the shop-owner's other daughters, Vickey and Alice. Music is provided by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
conducted by Philip Ellis. To 25.02.12 Paul Marston
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