THE ATRDI
THE DIAGTEILFiFF BALLET AT
PRINCES THEATRE.
Tee Russian Ballet is the one entertainment to which it is justifiable to apply the term "brilliant" -in the particular sense that it -is used in- provincial papers—" The scene at Mrs. Spiffikin's reception -was a brilliant one." "-On Tuesday the Eploffirin Brothers, on the occasion of the United Missionaries' Bazaar, performed-their remarkable ventriloquist turn before a brilliant .assembly- at the Town Hall." This year, too, under the..direction of. Mr. Ernest_Ansermet, the musical.part of the entertainment seems to me, in-my complete ignorance of music, -better than it has ever been before. Or was this perhaps the effect of a, smaller theatre-4 To my mind, the Princes Theatre is a much pleasanter place than Drury-Lane or Covent Garden in which to see ballets and to hear music. I was particularly struck by this hi the case of_Fetrouchka, whose-peculiar akin- -creeping atmosphere was much more enveloping. This was -specially the case with the -dreadful half:human antics of "The Moor " doll who lies-on his back-on his-couch balancing a ewe- mut on -his feet, and then turns in superstitious awe and worships lips toy, knocking his forehead on the earth and abasing .himself before it. All this being much closer to one in the Princes Theatre was- very much more -effective, and we were able, too, to Appreciate the chief " stunt " of the ballet, the wonderful nicety with which the gestures and actions of " Petronchka," "'The Moor," and " The Dower " doll were differentiated from those of the real human beings who have come to the fair to see them. The otherevening when I went to the Princes Theatre the programme included the new suite of Andalusian dances, Ottadrovinamenoo. -Thisianot danced by theRussian Ballet, but by a company of real Andalusions. Their performance is the sort of thing which. I, in common with.many other British tourists, have vainly attended café chtintants in Seville to see And have not seen, -but have been fobbed off instead by the usual sort of ventriloquist, the lady " and partner " who did duologue sketches of Parisian life, or with a company of acrobats. But in Cuadro Flamenco we saw that for which we had gone so far and sat up so late—Spanish performances are billed for nine-thirty and rarely begin before half-past ten. In Cuadro Flamenco the performers sit round in a semi-circle on a sort of comic Early Victorian stage (designed by Piocasao); the music is provided by two guitarists and a lady who sings in that penetrating nasal tone which appears to be peculiar to the shores of the Medi- terranean. The tonal values of this school of singing seem to may untutored mind something between those of a peacock before rain and a badly oiled • door hinge. You may hoar just such strains. anywhere along the coast-line of those " promiscuous parte " which lie between Venice and Gibraltar. Almost as characteristic is the peculiar sense of hubbub with which the Andalusian dancers contrive to invest their performance— stamping feet, clapping hands, shrill nasal female voice at full stretch, clacking heels faster than a clog dance, the snapping fingers and castanets of the dancers, and a glare of bard brutal light which is peculiarly Spanish.
There is no doubt that Cuadro Flamenco gives a sense of Mediterranean local colour which you will hardly get in so concentrated a dose even by dint of .a visit to its proper home, but I think woof the audience felt that we came to the Russian Ballet for something even more wonderful than local colour, though never so perfect. Local colour may transport our bodies till we see again ".the sights and sounds and faces of Seville," till we feel Once more the stifling heat of the Oven of Spain and smell again that mingled scent of acrid dust, goats, and orange blossom. But art transports us yet further. That Land of feta Morgan to which it alone can convey us is further than Spain. When we found ourselves put off with local colour, I think we left rather as a traveller setting out in the old days on the Trans-Siberian journey might feel if compelled by some accident to the points to alight after all just outside South Croydon. It WA, a coma-down. I think that the Russian .Ballet management have realized something of this. The Andalusian dancers, though of their kind beyond praise, do actually provide us with .a form of entertainment inferior to good ballet. I notice that in their programmes the manage• ment for -the most part unite Cuadro Flamenco with the most fantastical, the.most magical of their ballets, standing it between, ,for instance, Children's Tales and Petroachka. TARN.
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