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Performance

VenueBirmingham Hippodrome
Also: DanceXchange,Patrick Centre
TownBirmingham
CountyWest Midlands
From8th October 2014
To11th October 2014
Birmingham Hippodrome (V145)
Current/Future Listings
Listings Archive

Production Changes

Previous details associated with this item and date of change.
  • Date of change: 21 May 14 - T082332248

Birmingham Royal Ballet - Shadows of War: La Fin du jour/Miracle in the Gorbals/Flowers of the Forest

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Work:: Birmingham Royal Ballet (S0697032789)


Company Birmingham Royal Ballet

Production:: Shadows of War: La Fin du jour/Miracle in the Gorbals/Flowers of the Forest (T082332248)

Three one-act ballets each touched in some way by war. Kenneth MacMillan's La Fin du jour captures the glamorous 'la plage' lifestyle of the depression era. A group of trendy, bright young things while away their days with swimming, golf and new-fangled aeroplanes. They studiously ignore the looming threat of war which will eventually call time on their careless enjoyment and high spirits. Robert Helpmann's (Royal Ballet dancer and the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) 1944 ballet Miracle in the Gorbals was a great leap forward for British ballet. Set in a run-down and dangerous Glasgow suburb, it dispensed with all the frippery of traditional ballets, replacing it with a gritty realism that proved an enormous success. After the shock of a girl's suicide, the arrival of a mysterious stranger who is able to bring her back to life creates waves among the violent inhabitants of the tenements. This ground-breaking dance drama is being re-created by Dame Gillian Lynne (a member of the original cast), using original set designs by Edward Burra, a leading 20th-century British artist. David Bintley's Flowers of the Forest is a ballet in two parts. Set to music by Malcolm Arnold,'Four Scottish Dances' presents a light-hearted and nostalgic, 'picture postcard' view of Scotland, whilst 'Scottish Ballad' strikes a more serious note, and is danced to a folk-inspired score by the young Benjamin Britten. The composer's pacifist views found voice in this piece, which takes its title from the famous ballad for the flower of Scottish youth slain on Flodden Field.
Music Malcolm Arnold (Flowers of the Forest)
Music Benjamin Britten (Flowers of the Forest)
Choreographer David Bintley (Flowers of the Forest)
Costume Jan Blake (Flowers of the Forest)
Lighting Peter Teigen (Flowers of the Forest)
Music Maurice Ravel (La Fin du jour)
Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan (Flowers of the Forest)
Design Ian Spurting (Flowers of the Forest)
Lighting John B. Read (Flowers of the Forest)
Music Arthur Bliss (Miracle in the Gorbals)
Choreographer Gilian Lynne (Miracle in the Gorbals after Robert Helpmann)
Other Michael Benthall (Miracle in the Gorbals - scenario)
Design Adam Wiltshire (Miracle in the Gorbals after Edward Burra)
Lighting Peter Teigen (Miracle in the Gorbals)

Listing:: L073325661




Shadows of War: La Fin du jour/Miracle in the Gorbals/Flowers of the Forest

Three one-act ballets each touched in some way by war. Kenneth MacMillan's La Fin du jour captures the glamorous 'la plage' lifestyle of the depression era. A group of trendy, bright young things while away their days with swimming, golf and new-fangled aeroplanes. They studiously ignore the looming threat of war which will eventually call time on their careless enjoyment and high spirits. Robert Helpmann's (Royal Ballet dancer and the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) 1944 ballet Miracle in the Gorbals was a great leap forward for British ballet. Set in a run-down and dangerous Glasgow suburb, it dispensed with all the frippery of traditional ballets, replacing it with a gritty realism that proved an enormous success. After the shock of a girl's suicide, the arrival of a mysterious stranger who is able to bring her back to life creates waves among the violent inhabitants of the tenements. This ground-breaking dance drama is being re-created by Dame Gillian Lynne (a member of the original cast), using original set designs by Edward Burra, a leading 20th-century British artist. David Bintley's Flowers of the Forest is a ballet in two parts. Set to music by Malcolm Arnold,'Four Scottish Dances' presents a light-hearted and nostalgic, 'picture postcard' view of Scotland, whilst 'Scottish Ballad' strikes a more serious note, and is danced to a folk-inspired score by the young Benjamin Britten. The composer's pacifist views found voice in this piece, which takes its title from the famous ballad for the flower of Scottish youth slain on Flodden Field.

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