BALLET The Festival Ballet. (Festival Hall.)—Paul Draper. (Mercury Theatre.) BEING
just an admirer and not an ardent devotee of the book, it does not bother me at all that Michael Charnley, in his new ballet Alice in Wonderland, has taken liberties with Carroll's text. Nor do I mind that his gifted designer, Kenneth Rowell, has not slavishly followed Tenniel's famous illustrations. Far more important is the fact that Charnley has turned out, for the Festival Ballet, a most charming piece of work '; full of the modern movements with which he seeks to rejuvenate classical ballet ; excellent in its characterisa- tion of the well-loved roles ; and faithful in spirit to the fantastic dream world which is the child's escape from reality. Charnley has selected certain of the book's episodes between which, in order to introduce some more serious dancing than the tale itself allows, he has placed a Grand Waltz of the Flowers and Dragonflies, and a Garden of Live Flowers. The latter arrangement for three couples is the weakest part of the ballet ; it does not belong in the general flow and is a too obvious and not very successful device. Belinda Wright is the perfect Alice and the gaiety and ease with which she dances her long role should not deceive anyone into assuming that it is a simple one. John Gilpin has grown in stature since his last visit and is now a far more authoritative dancer than before ; and many other members of the cast are happily able to contribute individually to the undoubted success of the whole.
After an over-long absence of two years, Paul Draper is back again at the Mercury Theatre for a season of ten days. Imagine a combination of tap and classical dancing as eloquent when applied to pure, abstract rhythm as to the human art of narrative. Think of a performer whose balance, control and timing equal that of a premier danseur, whose feet chatter along the boards while he quietly slips in a brise here and a rond de jambe there, and who is, at the same time, his own choreographer and librettist. LILLIAN BROWSE.
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