Novel approach
Giannandrea Poesio
Wuthering Heights
Northern Ballet Theatre, Sadler's Wells
At first, the idea of a choreographic translation of Wuthering Heights might sound a bit odd. But if you love the old movie with Merle Oberon and Sir Laurence Olivier, you will love David Nixon's creation for Northern Ballet Theatre. Not unlike the black-and-white classic, this ballet is surprisingly engaging. Nixon, who is also artistic director of Northern Ballet Theatre, keeps the viewer's attention with a well-concocted mix of passionate narrative moments, intense psychological ones, humorous scenes and entertaining theatrical solutions. In this he is the ideal keeper of Northern Ballet Theatre's dance-drama tradition, into which he has also managed to weave new ideas and approaches.
As an eminent dance personality noted during the interval, Nixon's sense of dramatic construction would have made the late Christopher Gable, creator of the dance-drama genre and former artistic director of the same company, very happy.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, whose narrative creations are inaccessible and indigestible, Nixon opts for a rapid sequence of dramatic scenes, in which the most significant events of Emily Bronte's story are told with clarity and simplicity. Yet. Nixon's choreography goes far beyond creating theatrically catchy solutions and nice-looking steps.
His dance-making skills are particularly evident in the numerous well-constructed duets that punctuate this work. Despite the use of recognisable choreographic leitmotivs. each duet is never repetitive or predictable. And it is through a well-devised system of differences and similarities that Nixon turns the duets into key narrative moments, arranging them in a fluid crescendo of drama and passion. And, even though the ingenious construction of each pas de deux entails a great deal of technically demanding action, none of these duets comes across as a display of bravura and spectacle. I only wish the rest of the danced action possessed similar qualities, which, alas, was not always the case.
Once the dance moves from portraying Cathy's and Heathcliffs inner turmoil back to pure story-telling, the constraints of the ballet medium become evident. This is particularly true in the case of the two party scenes, where the twirling guests of Trushcross Grange are far too reminiscent of those preposterous guests to which most 19th-century choreographers resorted solely to give the corps de ballet something visually pleasing to do. The same could be said of the way principal characters, such as Edgar and Isabella, are portrayed choreographically. The former moves too much as the traditional lovesick danseur noble to be dramatically and choreographically credible, while the submissive and naive nature of the latter is not appropriately conveyed by the fairly standard pointe actions she has been given. Not to mention the fact that it is not clear why she is introduced as a comically spoilt rich bimbo.
Still, none of these debatable solutions detracts too much from the fast-paced, theatrically colourful action, or impinges on the sense of enjoyment that stays with the viewer long after the curtain has come down on the intense final scene.
Flowing dramatic construction and a generally good choreographic layout are also matched by the excellent score by Claude-Michel Schonberg, whose name is generally associated with long runners such as Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. Schonberg's music for Wuthering Heights, however, is not just a pleasant soundtrack, packed with catchy tunes. From the initial scenes to the last one, the score informs and complements the dance action in what seems to be a seamless interaction between music, dance and narrative, providing far more than a simple commentary or melodic support to the dancing itself.
As for the interpreters, the company is a very good one, blessed with good artists. Viewers would not have left the auditorium with tears in their eyes had it not been for the intense rendition of Jonathan Oliver, who was recently nominated for the Dance Critics Award, as Heathcliff, and Charlotte Talbot's in-depth portrayal of Cathy. I am not sure what Emily Brontë would have made of it, but this ballet is destined to remain one of the most successful titles in Northern Ballet Theatre's repertoire.
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