An Epic Run of The Royal Ballet's 'Mayerling'

I don't really know where to begin with Kenneth Macmillan’s Mayerling. It contains such an abundance of layers that to try and describe any of it fills me a bit with dread. Do I start with the complex plot, which took me a three-course pre theatre meal at Cote to explain to my boyfriend who had never seen it before? What about the range of themes that put you on such an emotional rollercoaster, only a strong martini will ease the pain? I know, I'll start with it's casting. I needed sunglasses to hide the brightness of the opening night’s cast list. I’m not usually fussed about rank but to see a Principal dancer in every lead role on the page was so impressive. You could worry they would all compete for the spotlight but there was none of that. They supported each other and demonstrated real camaraderie - I was more than impressed. So back for possibly the final time in the famous moustache was Ed Watson, whose turn as Rudolf these passed years has led a generation. I have to admit; I've always found his take on the character a bit too crazy. I guess it's similar in the way an actor interprets Hamlet - is he really mad or is it in fact an antic disposition? In this run, however, Watson has mellowed and his performance has been thought provoking and intense. His Rudolf has layers and is clearly a troubled soul.

It's here I may try to describe the narrative. In essence, we find ourselves in the Austrian court at a time of impending revolution where all hopes for the future lie on Crown Prince Rudolf, an odd bloke who's deep intellect and radical behaviour leads him to sex drugs and rock n roll - something that doesn’t make his parents very happy. The ballet focuses on Rudolf and all of the women who surround him whilst looking into the corruption and pressures that accompanied his daily life. It's a masterpiece of a ballet, an epic, and it always amazes me how much narrative Macmillan is able to cover in just three acts. I find something new every time I see it and his subtleties throughout tell you so much about what is going on behind the scenes. Back to the plot, and Rudolf meets his match in Mary Vetsera, a teenage girl who shares his curiosity with death and sex. They end up agreeing to a mutual suicide pact and the end is, as you can imagine, pretty bleak for the two of them. Of course this is all based on real life but Macmillan leaves so much up for interpretation, which is what keeps the ballet so fresh.

Dancing her debut as Mary Vetsera alongside Ed Watson was Natalia Osipova who gave her all as the passionate and beguiling doomed girl. As well as dancing the steps perfectly, Osipova added a level of madness that I haven't really seen before in this role. Her Vetsera matched Watson’s portrayal and they worked really well together. She was seductive and engaging but I felt like she really cared for her Rudolf by the end. Again, all up for interpretation. Laura Morera’s Vetsera was a completely different kettle of fish, but more of that later.

I must mention that the rest of the company in all of the casts that I saw were fabulous - showing them off in such a great light, they can do no wrong at the moment. Sarah Lamb’s Larisch is the best I've ever seen and she has the ability to break your heart in her final adieu to Rudolf. Larisch is actually my favourite character, the only one who cares deeply for Rudolf and who can see exactly what is going on around him. Olivia Cowley and Itziar Mendizabel did very well too and showed that they have all the makings of being the next generation of fabulous Larisch’s. The Stephanie's were fab, the Countesses were fab, the Mitzie’s were fab, the Bratfisch’s were fab. All in all, what a super cast and what a super run.

But back to Morera. Never have I seen a take on Mary Vetsera where you feel the ballet belongs just as much to her as it does to her leading man. We knew she could do it and do it she did. Almost literally in fact. There is no doubt what was going on in her passionate pas de deuxs with Federico Bonelli, who danced Rudolf alongside her. She was sexy, erotic, almost feral with him and above all manipulative. Hers was a Vetsera that really understood the power of her gender and how to use it to get what she wanted. Morera doesn’t treat Vetsera as a side character in the ballet or as just another one of Rudolf’s women. Instead, she was the only ballerina in this run, and perhaps that I have ever seen, that gives Vetsera her own story. It’s clear in her eyes alone that something wild and dangerous is happening and that she has her own issues to deal with. It was quite something, and how fun to witness a ballerina give one of her strongest performances later in her career.

Macmillan’s roles require the dancer to put their own spin on the character. It's a beautiful thing to watch different dancers interpret his choreography differently and I think the character of Rudolf demonstrates this brilliantly. It's probably the great role that most male dancers wish to perform at one point during their career and it's such a privilege to watch so many different interpretations. I found Bonelli to be quite an angry Rudolf, strong and powerful with the right amount of vulnerability to make his fate believable. I liked him a lot in this and felt that his passion and aggression was very much the perfect counterpoint to Laura Morera’s steamy Mary Vetsera.

I have to say though; above all, my favourite take on the role has to be Thiago Soares. He is the only one who really moves me, who is able to bring a lump to my throat. I also feel with Soares that you clearly see the descent from borderline stability to complete breakdown, which I think is the hardest thing to achieve across only 3 acts. Perhaps he isn't as strong a dancer as Bonelli or Watson, but in that final scene, after shooting Mary, where he appears in front of the screen, his face just says it all. He is able to demonstrate with just a facial expression the pressures, corruption, loveless upbringing and cold surroundings that have prevailed throughout his life. Along with Liszt's incredible music, in particular the piano section during Rudolf's final solo, which builds up and up, you are left heartbroken and deflated after his performance.

A slight aside but I have also wondered why Bennett Gartside hasn’t had a go this year. I missed him last time and after seeing his wonderful performance in Chris Wheeldon’s A Winter’s Tale (which I said at the time is like a practice for Rudolf) I had hoped to see his Rudolf in this run to compare yet another interpretation. Hopefully next time...

There is simply too much to say about this ballet and if time was on my side then I would be posting a series of reviews about this run of Mayerling. Unfortunately, I can only lead with the above, but to sum it all up, what an incredible run of this masterpiece.

*Thiago Soares takes his curtain call after Mayerling. Photo copyright David Long