Review: LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE, Sadler's Wells

A sweet revival of Frederick Ashton's best-known and loved ballet returns to Sadler's Wells. Showcasing both comedy and complexity in its solos and routines, La Fille mal gardée brings a splash of sunshine to the stage.

Written in 1960 with music arranged by John Lanchbery, this ballet has been part of Birmingham Royal Ballet since 1962, and is regularly revived to challenge the dancers and please the audience. It is a show with appeal across generations and feels more grounded in reality than tales of mystical beings or rarified royals.

Lise, a young farmgirl, falls in love with a farmhard, Colas. Although he reciprocates her affection, Lise's mother Simone has other, more ambitious plans for her marriage. Simone is played by a male character dancer (Rory Mackay) who displays great technical finesse as well as detailed comic business. Matching Simone in the comedy stakes is the nice-but-dim Alain (Gus Payne), whose staccato movements and love for his umbrella are hugely entertaining.

Across three acts, this sunniest of ballets tracks the love story of Lise and Colas, and Simone's attempts to keep them apart. There is much hard work for the corps de ballet as well, with a complicated maypole dance, work with props such as scythes and hay bales, and routines requiring perfect precision.

In her debut as Principal dancer, Beatrice Parma makes a striking impression as cheeky young Lise, with her innocent and mischievous exploration of love. It's a joyous evolution between her and the persistent Colas, as they use a ribbon as the symbol of their affection and eventually give in to their attraction to each other. She dances with grace, style, and delight. I loved her routines with the mother, as well as her and Colas making whoopee behind Alain's back.

Colas (sprightly soloist Enrique Bejarano Vidal) has a complicated solo with a staff in act one, with jumps, twists and spins. In act two, there is the famous 'bum lift' described by the company's artistic leader, Carlos Acosta, in which Lise is held aloft on just one palm as the closing image. A feat of athletic commitment and endurance, which can also be said for the duet performed through the partial door opening in act three.

In terms of setting, Osbert Lancaster's designs, cartoonish, playful, detailed, and pastoral, remain the same as in 1960, but allow the work to breathe and grow around them. The curtain backdrops are fun, the ideas within the three set designs sharp and amusing. It is enough to give the story a thorough grounding.

With the additional of a live pony (Oscar, who is twenty years old) adding the cuteness factor, and a group of high-spirited chickens (dancers, not birds) to open proceedings,  La Fille mal gardée retains a lot of charm and energy.

It's not hard to see why this is Ashton's most loved and remembered ballet. With wide appeal, charm, and very detailed movement, this is an absolute treat for all the family.

La Fille mal gardée was at Sadler's Wells as part of Birmingham Royal Ballet's October showcase.

Photo credit: Birmingham Royal Ballet

To post a comment, you must register and login.