Northern Ballet's 'Victoria'

There is a phrase used by parents to get their children to read that I think my ever-patient father used most days when I was at school. When enduring the laborious task of reading, and wanting to immediately put the book down, he would tell me to “stick with it” or would promise that even if a slow burner I would eventually “get into it”. Some of my favourite books and actually some of my favourite movies don’t necessarily grab me at the start, but as you begin to get involved in what they are trying to depict, the more and more one can succumb to their stories. I feel this way with Cathy Marston's Victoria which had its London premiere last week at Sadler's wells. I wasn’t immediately taken with it, and I would say it took me a good twenty minutes to get into the performance and to understand Marston's choreographic language. But once I did, I felt this was a pretty sophisticated depiction of Queen Victoria’s life. I have never seen anything by Marston before but I know she has an interest in narrative ballet. There has been some criticism that her story-telling of Queen Victoria’s complicated life isn’t that clear; in particular, some have been confused about who is who and what is what. I’d argue the synopsis in the programme could do with a review, but I didn’t really feel that confused and I thought Marston cleverly depicts the life of one of our greatest monarchs.

Abigail Prudames as Victoria, Joseph Taylor as Albert and Pippa Moore as Beatrice

I really like the way Marston choreographs. I like the movement she uses to tell a story and I think she effectively conveys Victoria’s lust, love and eventual heartbreak very effectively. I think there are definitely elements to the narrative that could probably be looked at again. In the synopsis, it describes a whole back-story of the government investing in the opium trade, which eventually draws Lord Melbourne a bit too close and he begins to smoke the powerful opiate. I struggled to find this part of the plot on stage and finally noticed some shady characters at the very back moving slowly with what appeared to be long pipes. They didn’t interact with their queen, and they didn’t really make their presence known to anyone else dancing on stage. We then see Lord Melbourne holding a pipe which I’m guessing depicts his fall into the Victorian drug scene. Woodstock it clearly wasn’t. This whole section of plot added nothing to the narrative and didn’t progress it in any way. When you’re faced with a queen who gave birth nine times, seeing all of them acted out on stage one after the other at great speed grew pretty tiring, which I understand was likely the point . But hey, I guess that’s what Marston is trying to show her audience - that here we have a woman desperate to get back to her role ruling her country only to find she must prioritise ruling her home and children instead. I think that the friction between Albert and Victoria was made very clear and it would seem that these are the areas where Marston shows her true skill as a choreographer.

Abigail Prudames as Victoria

What Marston also does well is focus on the areas that she clearly wants to explore, i.e Victoria’s relationships and journey to becoming Queen. I thought it was exceptionally clever to begin the story with Victoria on her deathbed and then rewind to her life post Albert’s death. For the beginning of her life to be drawn after the interval, I thought very clever. I love the way Marston uses certain touches to tell the story. For example, I loved that Victoria has a nervous habit of twiddling her thumbs when out of her comfort zone. This conveys her vulnerability and her human side to the audience which I found very moving. I also loved how Victoria teaches her daughter how to act like a lady and adopt a powerful stance, which we see repeated towards the end of the ballet, when her daughter must inflict the same teachings on Victoria after she loses her husband. These types of touches really enhance the choreography. Marston also captures the atmosphere surrounding Victoria very effectively. In the first act, there is an overwhelming sense of pressure and suffocation around Beatrice (Victoria’s youngest daughter) and her love interest Liko. Victoria doesn’t warm to their relationship and her dependency on Beatrice causes a serious rift between the young couple. Because this all happens during Act One, it takes until the second act, when we see Victoria fall in love with Albert (only to have him taken from her), for us to fully comprehend her possessive nature and dependency on her daughter.

Northern Ballet dancers in Victoria

I have to say that every time I watch Northern Ballet, I am so impressed with their talented dancers. Abigail Prudames danced the role of Victoria and convincingly portrayed her as a knowing, bitter older woman and a naive, carefree young girl. Her acting was sublime and she was achingly devastated when Albert (beautifully danced by Joseph Taylor) had collapsed. We see that underlying devastation throughout the ballet, but she is uplifted by her daughter, who is young, bright and dreamy. The Young Beatrice was danced by the lovely Miki Akuta, but it was the older Beatrice (played by the wonderful Pippa Moore), always present on stage remembering her past, who really stole the show for me. The whole narrative is told through her eyes, as she is reading her mother’s diaries and subsequently editing out the parts she isn’t too keen on. I could have done without the relentless swapping of books on stage, but I suppose it carried each scene on to the next. I thought Moore was exquisite and displayed such strong emotion on stage. She is a really clear dramatic dancer and I felt like I understood every part of her character's being, just through the expressions on her face. I love Marston’s choreography for Beatrice: from her torment when she reads about her mother’s sexual experiences, to her physical repulsion when her mother falls in love with John Brown.

Pippa Moore as Beatrice

There may still be a bit of tweaking to be done here, but overall Marston has successfully conveyed a difficult narrative through a two-act ballet. I admire her choreography and feel inspired to see more of her work. She is fortunate to have such beautiful dancers at Northern Ballet to work with and they are fortunate to have someone of her calibre creating new work for their repertoire. I hope that relationship can last as long as Queen Victoria’s reign.

*Photos copyright Emma Kauldhar

*Thanks to Lauren Godfrey and Northern Ballet