Yorke Dance Project's Film Of MacMillan's SEA OF TROUBLES Premeires at ROH's Clore Studio in October

This autumn, Yorke Dance Project will give the world premiere of its new film of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's ballet Sea of Troubles which famously explored the psychological truths and dynamics between the characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film premieres at the Royal Opera House's Clore Studio on Tuesday 10 October, World Mental Health Day.

Yorke Dance Project first revived the stage work of Sea of Troubles in 2016. Now the company, in association with The Royal Ballet, has adapted MacMillan's visceral work for film. Perfectly suited to the medium, Sea of Troubles is a classic tale of grief, despair, revenge, power and madness. It has been directed by Emmy-nominated documentary features director, David Stewart, who made 89, the story of Arsenal's impossible league title triumph. Stewart first worked with Yorke Dance Project on Seven Portraits (originally titled Lockdown Portraits), seven solos created by Sir Robert Cohan before his death in 2021.

Sea of Troubles was filmed on location in the house and grounds of historic Hatfield House, a Grade I listed country house built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I. It is set to music by Anton Webern and Bohuslav Martinů.

The dancers are Dane Hurst as Hamlet and, playing various roles including Ophelia, Gertrude, Polonius and Claudius, Freya Jeffs, Romany Pajdak (Royal Ballet soloist), Oxana Panchenko, Edd Mitton and Ben Warbis.

MacMillan's ballet was widely viewed to have broken new ground in its treatment of mental distress. This autumn, the company will be running a series of workshops entitled Mindful, co-created and co-facilitated with HFEH Mind (Hammersmith, Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow). Taking the mental health journeys of Hamlet and Ophelia as its artistic focus, the workshop uses the characters to navigate conflicts and emotions which some young people may also be experiencing. It uses specifically devised movement exercises, designed in close collaboration with mental health practitioners, to encourage communication, self-expression and understanding, reinforce a sense of agency and increase resilience, physical and mental wellbeing. The workshop will be delivered in secondary schools and community settings, with the teachers or community workers selecting twelve participants, aged 13 to 18, whom they believe will most benefit from the workshop.

Sea of Troubles was choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan in 1988. It was commissioned by, and created for, Dance Advance, a touring ballet company comprised of six dancers who had broken away from The Royal Ballet to take new chamber ballets to a nationwide audience. MacMillan became their patron. The original cast was: Michael Batchelor, Susie Crow, Jennifer Jackson, Russell Maliphant, Stephen Sheriff and Sheila Styles.

In 2016, the ballet was revived by Yorke Dance Project and performed at the Royal Opera House as part of the 25th anniversary of MacMillan's death.

Following these autumn tour dates there are plans for a cinema release of the film in 2024.

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