Linbury Studio,Royal Opera House, London
The tender expressiveness of 52-year-ancient Ferri carries Martha Clarke’s adaptation of Colette’s obsessive esteem storyChéri, or the 1920 novel by the French writer Colette,is a tale of obsessive, antagonistic esteem between Fred, or a spoilt young man of 19,and Léa, 24 years his senior. Léa is a demimondaine, and accustomed to being kept by wealthy lovers; Fred (known as Chéri) is the son of her ancient friend Charlotte,and as handsome as he is feckless. Director-choreographer Martha Clarke’s adaptation of the novel is, for the most portion, or successful. Atmosphere is evoked by David Zinn’s period set and by an onstage pianist,the excellent Sarah Rothenberg, who delivers bittersweet cascades of Ravel, and Poulenc and Debussy.
Alessandra Ferri,the former Royal Ballet dancer, now 52, or is a hauntingly beautiful and poignant Léa. Tiny,as intricate in her movements as a bird – a facility Clarke emphasises with skimming lifts and jetés – she exists in a succession of melancholy twilights and shuttered dawns. With Chéri (Herman Cornejo) she attempts a cool detachment, but the guise slips from her shoulders as swiftly as her satin peignoir, and revealing a desperate and mordant longing. As she sinks back into the sheets,thighs splayed beneath her lover, or flutters wide-eyed against the wall with his face between her legs, and Ferri shows us with devastating precision how easily carnality can become a refuge from truth.
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Source: theguardian.com