Lamb To The Slaughter? I Think Not...

I’m a bit late to the party with this one, but let’s just talk about the Royal Ballet’s opening night of Giselle. Quite a lot of controversy surrounded the evening as it was announced pretty last minute that Natalia Osipova would not be dancing on opening night due to injury. I’m sure the ROH was hit big time that day with furious calls and anonymous attacks online. Although this is the risk you take when buying tickets for a specific cast, I can feel everyone’s frustration. After all, this is one of the best Giselles around, and to be told that you won’t be seeing her after boasting to anyone who will listen that you have tickets to the great Osipova, is beyond annoying. My frustrations are pretty sedate in comparison to some, so what a challenge for someone to step into Osipova’s pointe shoes and take on her best role. Who could possibly do this? Sarah Lamb of course! Why, she’s only stepped in for Osipova on numerous occasions already so why not make her do it again? Lamb does not have enough credit given to her on an everyday basis, let alone being given any credit for always playing the understudy. She is someone who is always around, always gives her best, is rarely injured or sick yet does not have the fame or recognition that she should be given. Putting her on stage for opening night may have seemed like lamb to the slaughter (what a pun), but she was more than well received and any of Osipova’s die hard fans who tried their best to stay miserable throughout the performance I’m sure were secretly loving every second. Bravo to everyone, not just Lamb, for having to re-arrange and rehearse in what was probably a few hours to get everything up to opening night standard. It certainly paid off.

I have never seen Sarah Lamb perform Giselle and I’ve heard that this was only her third or fourth performance in the role. In a way this doesn’t surprise me as I didn’t think I was watching a dancer who regularly pulled Giselle out of the bag, but this made it more enjoyable. Lamb’s performance was fresh and new, steering well away from anything tired or dull. I didn’t think she would be a natural Giselle but she proved me wrong and I thought her first act in particular was fabulous. I loved the way she would gaze up at Albrecht (Matthew Golding, more of him later) to really emphasise how much she was in awe of him but also balanced this with a confidence and buoyancy which most do not do. The Alinas and Natalias play Giselle as a girl doomed from the start, sickly and naïve yet passionate about dancing. This interpretation works beautifully but Lamb’s Giselle is brighter, more gung ho and with a mind of her own. The sadness in her second act is more that she cannot continue her happy life of dancing and smiling, whereas, for most, we are more emotional that she cannot be with the one she loves. It’s nice to see a different interpretation. Lamb’s mad scene is also something to mention. Those wide eyes and pale face do wonders as she starts to unravel and she gave a lot more than I was expecting. Some can overdo the mad scene, but I’ve always thought it’s important to remember that she’s realising what’s happened. We need to see her process that she’s a peasant, that she can never be with someone like Albrecht and, the nail in the coffin, that she has been betrayed by her man. It doesn’t do to just become hysterical from the start. Lamb understood this, and ascended into her madness with a final swoop into her mother’s arms before collapsing dead. It was quite something and was helped by Matthew Golding.

Love him or loathe him, as that seems to be the case with Matt Golding, you cannot deny that the man is a great ballet dancer. I think it’s taking him a while to settle into the Royal Ballet, but this is no problem. He’s such a prince, with sandy coloured hair, tall frame and a bit of an aloof expression and he was well suited to dance Albrecht. I think, as always with Golding, he warmed up as the show went on. He and Lamb surprisingly had nice chemistry together, which you wouldn’t have thought would happen after a day’s rehearsal so that was very impressive. Golding really shone once his character also began to unravel. His blasé hand gesture once he had revealed himself as a Prince was arrogant and cutting, just what you want from Albrecht, yet his despair once Giselle had died was effective and moving. Technically he shone in the second act and had no problem keeping up with Myrthe’s dancing demands. I liked him and, for a debut, he did extremely well.

But let’s talk about Tierney Heap’s Myrthe. The ghostly queen of the Wilis requires perfect bitch face which Heap did wonderfully. She didn’t frown or try and scare, instead she was more subtle. This wasn’t a Halloween take on the role which unfortunately some do. Instead Heap was Myrthe. She was fantastic. She haunted and frightened all the time with a subtle smile which I loved! How clever to give Myrthe an ironic smile making her seem even more evil and scary. Heap plays her almost like a cat toying with a mouse. She can smile a bit and play with the men because she knows their fate once they’ve crossed her. It’s the most refreshing interpretation that I’ve seen for a while and kudos to Kevin O’Hare for giving a young and new dancer this opportunity as it paid off massively. Heap seems destined to play these dark and meaty roles and I look forward to seeing more of her.

It is the corps de ballet, as always, who steal the show in Peter Wright’s production of Giselle. Their parts in the second act are actually my favourite of the whole ballet and when they work in complete unison, as they are so well trained to do, you are left being unable to speak. It’s so magical and breathtaking. Even the strongest of souls wouldn’t be able to leave Wright’s production without experiencing a shudder or goosebumps after watching the Wilis on stage. It’s harrowing and haunting just as it should be, and always leaves me with a strange desire to join them. They’re like a fierce female cult you secretly want to join and I could really see myself giving a guy the infamous ‘whatever’ hand that they all do perfectly in unison. The ‘whatever’ hand comes out quite frequently in my life actually and if I were a dancer I think I would long to be a Wili. They’re like the dead version of the Rockettes. Although the brown and muted colours in the first act are now beginning to look a little tired, Wright’s second act will never age or bore me. It’s one of the most beautiful acts of ballet that we have and we should cherish this production because what it offers is something quite special.