BRB - Giselle

Review: Giselle – Birmingham Royal Ballet at Birmingham Hippodrome

This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour was invited to review Giselle by Birmingham Royal Ballet.

By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour

Giselle – Birmingham Royal Ballet at
Birmingham Hippodrome

Choreography Marius Petipa after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and David Bintley

After hearing this acclaimed production was returning to Birmingham Hippodrome with Birmingham Royal Ballet, I decided to avoid reading anything at all about the story, to see what I could understand from watching a performance for the first time.

BRB – Giselle

Count Albrecht (Cesar Morales) arrives in a small European village and after hiding his posh velvet cape he falls for villager Giselle (Momoko Hirata). But the Count has a love rival, Hilarian (Kit Holder). Hilarian challenges the Count with a sword but the results devastate the whole village.

A HORSE APPEARS ON STAGE!!! A HORSE!! (A very calm, horse who patiently stands on stage whilst his handler strokes him to reassure him!).. anyway…

This classic ballet is has just two acts and two sets, the first features a square in a village with a full house and two smaller houses, in the background a waterfall runs from a large hill or small mountain. It shows a warm friendly community unaware of the destruction to come. The second act and set is inside huge ruined church, spooky, dramatic and moonlit.

At times Momoko Hirata‘s appears lighter than air, elegant and poised as the tragic Giselle. The level of drama delivered by this production is surprising and delightful.

Music is provided by Royal Ballet Sinfonia, and the beautiful music is both fresh and familiar. Nothing like a live orchestra to accompany world class dance.

I really enjoyed the ballet tonight, and my cousin who was visiting from Devon ADORED it! It is very easy to see the hard work and preparation that goes into being a world class ballet dancer, right there on the stage. But the production values cement its place to make it simply stunning.

Giselle is at Birmingham Hippodrome until 28th September. Book tickets here: birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/brb-giselle

When not writing about theatre for BrumHour, or producing Interval Theatre for Brum Radio (Tuesdays 3pm) brumradio.com/intervaltheatre, 
Dave Massey can be found eating crisps and claiming to be at the gym. And tweeting about Birmingham for #BrumHour.