'London City Ballet: Firebird – A Double Bill' review — dazzling work from the reborn company

Read our review of London City Ballet: Firebird – A Double Bill, now in performances at Sadler's Wells to 24 October.

Summary

• London City Ballet present a double bill of Firebird and Ghost Light
• Alina Cojocaru is a beautifully tentative, wistful protagonist in Ghost Light
• Firebird allows the company to dazzle, including a free-spirited Ellie Young

London City Ballet marks its third season since rising from the ashes of its former self with two weighty revivals, most notably a gothic, passionate Firebird. It is an extraordinarily haunting piece, performed on a London stage for the first time during the centenary of choreographer Glen Tetley’s birth.

However, this double bill is very much evening of two halves. LCB artistic director Christopher Marney also chooses to recreate a portion of German choreographer John Neumeier’s Ghost Light, which proves a challenging blend of classical and contemporary dance. The piece has a compelling origin story: it was choreographed during lockdown and inspired by empty rehearsal spaces and flickering memories of past performances. Neumeier created the work without ever having seen the complete ballet, which perhaps explains the dancers' disjointed comings and goings.

In a refreshing take on a black box set, the dancers flit around a single lamp in the middle of the stage, drawing on the image of the light left on while a theatre is empty. The exposed brick backdrop and visible tech (also designed by Neumeier) nod to the behind-the-scenes work of stagecraft. Though there is no real storyline, star booking Alina Cojocaru (previously a Royal Ballet principal dancer and lead principal with English National Ballet) plays a beautifully tentative yet wistful protagonist inspired by Odette in Swan Lake. The opening is arresting, as Cojocaru enters the dark stage in silence and asks where everyone has gone. However, the choreography is let down by the recorded piano music by Franz Schubert, which feels too traditional for a jolty, experimental work.

But Cojocaru’s pas de deux with former Northern Ballet premier Joseph Taylor is notably strong, while Francesca Velicu’s artistry shines through, particularly in her own duet with Nicolas Gläsmann. Rising star Arthur Wille has some lovely moments of reflection, and a heart-breaking male duet from Noah Cosgriff and Siméon Sorange-Félicité ruminates on the losses during the pandemic. The 55-minute piece ultimately loses momentum, and never finds a real denoument, but it does set the scene for the intensity of Firebird.

Originally made for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1981 by American choreographer Glen Tetley, the piece has been pulled together from rehearsal notes and archival recordings. Inspired by Russian folktales, Ellie Young is the free-spirited firebird, escaping from the constraints of a controlling family.

Olivier Award-winning John Macfarlane revisited his original set and costume designs for the piece and they are startlingly beautiful. The family are in Victorian-inspired dress, while Arthur Henderson’s insidious Kotschei resembles a menacing anatomical model. As the mood changes, the colours of the abstract painted projections behind blend and shift, culminating in a bright and triumphant wedding scene. Young’s duets with her lover Ivan, danced by Taylor, are a joy to watch, and the male ensemble of birds is vivid and technically brilliant. While Ghost Light dwells on silences, Firebird is explosive, allowing the LCB dancers to dazzle.

The evening’s themes of renewal and memory act as a great testament to LCB’s own rebirth after years of absence and fulfil the company’s aim to resurrect older works not in the mainstream repertoire in an engaging way. The choices are a bold statement of intent from Marney, and the show is a great night out for both ballet aficionados and those new to the art form.

London City Ballet: Firebird – A Double Bill is at Sadler's Wells to 24 October. Book London City Ballet: Firebird – A Double Bill tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: London City Ballet: Firebird – A Double Bill (Photos by ASH)