BRB Penguin Café Triple Bill, Sadler's Wells

Fans of ballet in London will have an opportunity to sample Ruth Brill’s new work, Arcadia, alongside Michael Corder’s Le Baiser de la fée and David Bintley’s ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café.

Arcadia is BRB’s first major commission from the company’s First Artist Ruth Brill. Inspired by an original score by renowned saxophonist John Harle, this one-act narrative ballet is set in an idyllic pastoral paradise.

In Greek mythology, Arcadia is the home of Pan, the ancient god of nature who watches over the shepherds and their flocks. The ballet tells how Pan transforms from a self-centred despot to a harmonious ruler thanks to the influence of Selene, goddess of the moon.


BRB Triple Bill, Arcadia, photo Kate Howells
In Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy’s Kiss) a boy’s fate is sealed when a snow fairy saves his life.

Kissed by the fairy, the boy is destined for immortality. In adulthood, he finds himself torn between the frosty beauty and possessiveness of the fairy and the more innocent connection he has with his warm-blooded human fiancée.

Michael Corder created his Le Baiser de la fée for Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2008, on a score by Stravinsky which was originally choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska in 1928, and decades later was to provide the inspiration for a work by Balanchine.

The programme of short story ballets, accompanied by live music from the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, is completed with ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café.

BRB director David Bintley devised this colourful, witty and poignant look at man’s effect on the natural world in 1988. Almost 30 years later, its environmental message is more relevant than ever.

The score comes from Simon Jeffes, founder of the original Penguin Café Orchestra; and the work features among others a Morris-dancing flea, a ballroom-dancing ram and a carnival-inspired woolly monkey as the endangered animals seeking shelter from the storm.