The Royal Ballet, Mayerling, Royal Opera House
Mayerling, Kenneth MacMillan’s potent real-life tale of love, lust and death, returns to Covent Garden as part of the Royal Ballet’s autumn season
Mayerling, Edward Watson as Prince Rudolf, photo Alice Pennefather
The choreographer Kenneth MacMillan was the master of dark narrative ballets.
It is hardly surprising, then, that MacMillan found himself intrigued by the dangerous desires, family secrets and political twists buried in the true events surrounding the deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf and his teenaged mistress in January 1889.
Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, died with 17-year-old Mary Vetsera at the royal hunting lodge of Mayerling. Despite attempts to cover up the tragedy, the story was leaked and became a topic of fascination. Were these deaths the result of a double suicide pact or a murder-suicide?
MacMillan created Mayerling in 1978, when he had just stepped down as director of the Royal Ballet. He freed himself from the administrative tasks to focus on ambitious new choreographic undertakings and his vision for this complex three-act ballet fit the bill perfectly!
The intense and absorbing ballet is devised as a dramatic portrait of the drug addicted and emotionally unstable Prince Rudolf’s decline. MacMillan charts Rudolf’s descent into madness and murder through expressive choreography that pushes classical ballet to its limits.
Daring visceral pas de deux passages show Rudolf clashing with the women in his life – his mother, his new wife, his mistress – while heated emotion comes to the fore in his anguished solos.
The dancing is set a cinematic score of Franz Liszt’s music, orchestrated and arranged by John Lanchbery. The formal, oppressive world of the Austro-Hungarian court is brought to life by Nicholas Georgiadis’ sumptuous designs.
Well-populated crowd scenes show the whole company off at its dramatic finest, while the role of Rudolf is one of the most technically and emotionally demanding roles in the repertory for male dancers. Audiences can look forward to casts headed up by Edward Watson, Steven McRae, Thiago Soares and Ryoichi Hirano.
Live Cinema broadcast on Monday 15 October 2018 at 7.15pm.
Encore screening on Sunday 21 October 2018 at 2.00pm.
It is hardly surprising, then, that MacMillan found himself intrigued by the dangerous desires, family secrets and political twists buried in the true events surrounding the deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf and his teenaged mistress in January 1889.
Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, died with 17-year-old Mary Vetsera at the royal hunting lodge of Mayerling. Despite attempts to cover up the tragedy, the story was leaked and became a topic of fascination. Were these deaths the result of a double suicide pact or a murder-suicide?
MacMillan created Mayerling in 1978, when he had just stepped down as director of the Royal Ballet. He freed himself from the administrative tasks to focus on ambitious new choreographic undertakings and his vision for this complex three-act ballet fit the bill perfectly!
The intense and absorbing ballet is devised as a dramatic portrait of the drug addicted and emotionally unstable Prince Rudolf’s decline. MacMillan charts Rudolf’s descent into madness and murder through expressive choreography that pushes classical ballet to its limits.
Daring visceral pas de deux passages show Rudolf clashing with the women in his life – his mother, his new wife, his mistress – while heated emotion comes to the fore in his anguished solos.
The dancing is set a cinematic score of Franz Liszt’s music, orchestrated and arranged by John Lanchbery. The formal, oppressive world of the Austro-Hungarian court is brought to life by Nicholas Georgiadis’ sumptuous designs.
Well-populated crowd scenes show the whole company off at its dramatic finest, while the role of Rudolf is one of the most technically and emotionally demanding roles in the repertory for male dancers. Audiences can look forward to casts headed up by Edward Watson, Steven McRae, Thiago Soares and Ryoichi Hirano.
Live Cinema broadcast on Monday 15 October 2018 at 7.15pm.
Encore screening on Sunday 21 October 2018 at 2.00pm.
TRY CULTURE WHISPER
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| What | The Royal Ballet, Mayerling, Royal Opera House |
| Where | Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Covent Garden (underground) |
| When |
08 Oct 18 – 30 Oct 18, 19:30 Sat 13 Oct mat 13:30, Sat 13 & 20 Oct 19:00 Dur.: 3 hours including two intervals |
| Price | £4-£105 |
| Website | Click here to book via the ROH |