Birmingham Royal Ballet, La Fille Mal Gardée Review ★★★★★

La Fille Mal Gardée is Sir Frederick Ashton’s sunniest, most joyous ballet. Danced to music by Ferdinand Heróld, it transports the audience to a dreamy bucolic setting where the resourceful girl of the title, Lise, is determined to marry the penniless Colas, despite her mother's insistence that she should instead marry Alain, the simple-minded son of a rich local landowner. No prizes for guessing how it ends...

Everything coalesces to make this the feel-good ballet par excellence. Heróld’s music, played live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Paul Murphy, is easy on ear and interestingly descriptive; Osbert Lancaster’s designs are colourful and so detailed every time you see it you spot something new; the characters burst with vitality; a sturdy live white pony puts in an appearance; and, most important of all, of course, Ashton’s masterful choreography and crystalline story-telling are pure balletic bliss.

There was much to enjoy in the press night of La Fille Mal Gardée in BRB’s short Sadler’s Wells residency. The whole company danced with gusto, and if here and there imprecisions crept into the ensemble work, they weren’t enough to spoil the overall effect.

It may look light and frothy but this ballet requires solid technique and an ability to pitch mime and acting just right, particularly in the character roles of Lise’s mother, the Widow Simone, and the hapless suitor, Alain.

Rory MacKay as Widow Simone, Gus Payne as Alain and artists of BRB in La Fille Mal Gardée. Photo: Riku Ito
Reflecting the very English pantomime tradition, Widow Simone is danced by a man en travesti. In this performance Rory Mackay pitched the character just right: an irascible yet loving mother, funny yet always likeable, mugging to the audience but never crossing the line into grotesquery.

Alain is a very difficult role.The simple-minded young man is childish and clumsy, amusing but never an object of ridicule or mockery; and his jerky choreography is difficult and demanding. Gus Payne absolutely nailed it, his neat beaten jumps particularly impressive.

As Colas Enrique Berejano Vidal started a tad nervously - and who could blame him with the shadow of one of the best Colas of the modern era, his boss Carlos Acosta, hovering over him? He soon recovered to give us a cheeky, irrepressible Colas, tackling the exacting choreography with some aplomb, even if some of his landings lacked control. He was a sympathetic and reliable partner to Beatrice Parma’s Lise.

Beatrice Parma as Lise in BRB's La Fille Mal Gardée. Photo: Riku Ito

Parma is not yet a fully Ashtonian dancer, but her Lise was totally engaging. A very strong technician, her acting combined with fluent dancing convincingly to flesh out the character of a sunny girl, who’s feisty, resourceful and determined to get her man.

In short, Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardée is unquestionably one of the jewels of English ballet; and BRB is a worthy custodian of this glorious work.