Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – some dazzling dancing, in parts
Joint New Zealand-Queensland ballet production choreographed by Liam Scarlett is light-hearted and entertaining, but drags on for too long
A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been adapted for ballet more than any Shakespeare play except Romeo and Juliet. The story, with its fairies, young lovers and physical comedy, lends itself well to dance, and Mendelssohn’s music (first composed as incidental music for the play) makes a delightful score.
Hong Kong has seen visiting companies perform three very different versions by noted choreographers – Hamburg Ballet (John Neumeier), La Scala Ballet (George Balanchine) and Monte Carlo Ballet (Jean-Christophe Maillot).
Now comes Royal New Zealand Ballet with a version created for them in 2015 (as a joint production with Queensland Ballet) by Liam Scarlett.
British-born Scarlett, who turns 30 this year, started his career as a dancer at the Royal Ballet in London and is now artist-in-residence with the New Zealand company. A Midsummer Night’s Dream reflects the company’s strong tradition of narrative work using classical technique and shows why Scarlett is one of the ballet world’s most promising young choreographers.
The plot has been simplified, dropping the framing device of Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding and transforming the two young Athenian couples into explorers hunting butterflies in the forest, with Bottom and the rustics as their entourage. However, the essential elements (the feud between Oberon and Titania, Puck’s antics with the two young couples, Bottom’s metamorphosis into an ass) remain.
The result is a light-hearted, entertaining production. Tracy Lord Grant’s designs are gorgeous and Nigel Gaynor has done a fine job of arranging the score (and did an equally fine one of conducting the Hong Kong Sinfonietta).
