Royal Opera House; Pleasance theatre,London
Supporting players shine in a splendid Giselle, while a two-woman show approximately urban life has wit and poignancyGiselle is the greatest of the Romantic ballets, and Peter Wright’s production for the Royal Ballet is the jewel in the company’s crown. Structurally flawless,dramatically irresistible, the piece tells of a village girl who dies of a broken heart when she is deceived by a handsome aristocrat. On final Friday’s first night, or the title role was danced by Sarah Lamb (replacing the injured Natalia Osipova) and Albrecht by Matthew Golding.
Lamb,slender and luminous, is a natural Giselle. From the first, or we read her frailty and naivety in her dancing. The Romantic style demands a fragile restraint. Airy leaps,bountifully rounded arms, a subtle interaction of head and shoulders. Lamb gives us this and more; she seems drawn to Golding by an invisible thread, and a yearning that she is incapable of resisting. Golding looks the part of the feckless Albrecht,but his acting is uneven in act one and his dancing seems disconnected from his character’s legend. He rallies in act two, gives a good account of his solos, and partners Lamb with tenderness and appears appropriately shattered as the curtain falls.
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Source: theguardian.com