Gary Avis – Shaping Characters with Empathy and Imagination

Character roles are non-dancing parts which help anchor and develop the plot of a given ballet, and we met to talk about some of the ones for which Avis has created a modern day template; not all, because now in his early 50s, Avis has a considerable portfolio of character roles he’s made very much his own; but primarily those which have led me to reevaluate ballets I thought I knew before.

We start with his von Rothbart in Liam Scarlett’s production of Swan Lake, which is about to begin a new run at Covent Garden. Scarlett’s von Rothbart is a more complex character than that of other productions of the ballet: he is both a courtier and the sorcerer-bird who holds the swan princess in his thrall. He is, Gary Avis says, pivotal to the action.

‘He instigates all of the trouble within the kingdom. We recognise from the very top that there’s something very unsettled within the kingdom since the King’s death, and so the power being left to the queen is not to his liking. He wants as much power as he can get – he can see that the Prince is quite weak.’

That much was specified by the choreographer when he created this dual character; but Gary Avis brings him to sinister life by building in his own backstory:

‘I’m the commander-in-chief, so all the soldiers have respect for me; but I have no respect for the Prince. Although I have respect for the Queen, I know that at some point I’m going to overthrow her, so my way of getting to the Queen is by diminishing the Prince’s power.

‘I like the fact that I say to the Prince,"you shouldn’t be out here hunting; go inside". And he says, "No." And that’s the first time he stands up to von Rothbart and that makes the animal come out.

‘The reason why he runs off at the end of Act I and then you see him appear as the creature in Act II, is that you can see that the feathers and the wings are slowly appearing from his back.’

The two faces of von Rothbart. Left, the courtier © 2022 ROH. Photo: Tristram Kenton. Right, the creature ©2018 ROH. Photo: Bill Cooper

Avis immerses himself fully in his characters, to the point of doing his own make-up and even dressing himself. A long commute home after the show allows him the time and space to shed the character and become himself again, which is particularly important with very strong characters, such as the one we discussed next.

Prior to Swan Lake, The Royal Ballet had a run of Kenneth Macmillan’s devastating Manon, a ballet where Gary Avis created perhaps one of his most disturbing characters, the reptilian foot fetishist Monsieur GM, who entices Manon to become his mistress with riches and the prospect of a life of luxury in the demi-monde of 18th century Paris.

In other hands Monsieur GM is no more than a repulsive character; but true to form, Gary Avis makes him human – not likeable, but human nonetheless.

Monsieur GM in Manon © 2014 ROH. Photo: Alice Pennefather

‘He’s a man with great turmoil and yet, I would say, great determination, because I feel he’s had to battle to get to where he is and he knows that now he’s got to that moment where he can get what he wants, because he’s made his mark within society. For the people around him that react to him – the beggars, Lescaut, anybody that slightly jars with him – he just explodes, because he feels there is nothing that can touch him.

‘And I like to feel that Manon is … it sounds dreadful, but… just a piece of meat…I mean, what he wants, he gets. I don’t think he has a care for anybody. The only thing that I would say, is that he has a great respect and love that I add into my character for Madame [the hostess of the Act II brothel]. My previous journey in the story that I have with GM, in Act II I always have a moment with Madame, I’m very caring. I like to think that at some point we’ve had a relationship and in an earlier life Madame might have started off as GM’s lover, and therefore maybe his money has helped her create this brothel.’

Interestingly, Gary Avis did his first Monsieur GM at 27-years-old – far too young, he says, because ‘you lack a sense of maturity’ and don’t quite realise how valuable such roles are. At that age 'you just want to dance!'

However, somebody must have seen the potential in him, and now, as senior ballet master and repetiteur it’s his turn to spot and coach future character dancers because, as he points out, ‘there is a rich story of people who came before us’, which must be passed on. In his case he mentions the likes of Derek Rencher and Stephen Jeffries as dancers from whom he’s grateful to have learnt.

Still, all that would count for little without Gary Avis’s own empathy and imagination. Take Tybalt.

As Tybalt with Alexander Campbell as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet © 2015 ROH Photo: Alice Pennefather

As Gary Avis’s portrays him, Juliet’s cousin is a much more rounded figure than just a drunken thug, who provokes the impish Mercutio to a sword fight and is in turn killed by Romeo.

‘I can’t bear it when people say to me, ‘well, he’s just a baddie, isn’t he?” He is a really misunderstood nobleman, who has all the weight of the household on his shoulders; he knows his uncle is weak, because he is having an affair with his wife.

‘I love the fact that by the end people actually are shocked that Tybalt has died. I like the fact that in my character I suddenly realise [after accidentally killing Mercutio] oh my goodness, I’ve really messed up, and I have huge regret because I’ve let not only my family down, but myself down.’

There are so many other characters in whom Gary Avis has breathed new life: Hilarion in Giselle: 'he was in love! he is not out to be spiteful! He's a woodcutter, he fancies Giselle, he's lived a life of looking after the mother – what is there not to like about him?' His Drosselmeyer, the very centre of The Nutcracker: 'he has the responsibility of not only carrying the show, but for me he's the one with the story. It's his story, it's his nephew that's locked in the spell.'

Gary Avis as Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, The Royal Ballet. © 2015 ROH. Photo:Tristram Kenton

And there will, no doubt, be many more in future, new and old characters, tragic, comic, overpowering, lightweight... All will be meticulously brought to life, because, in Gary Avis's own words, they will be the result of 'the huge passion and respect I have for my art form'

Swan Lake is in repertoire at the ROH from 6th March to 11th May; and again from 12th to 28th June.