Mayara Magri – Becoming Jacqueline
The Royal Ballet principal Mayara Magri tells Culture Whisper how she’s preparing for her debut in the role of Jacqueline du Pré in the dramatic ballet The Cellist
They light up in a very appealing way when she talks about the things she enjoys with an open smile that makes her look much younger than her 29 years. And one of the things she enjoys is the ballet Don Quixote, which opened the current Royal Ballet season and in which she preparing to star beside, for the first time, her life partner, fellow principal Matthew Ball.
Mayara Magri as Kitri in Don Quixote. Photo: Andrej Uspenski © ROH
More on that partnership a little later. We’re meeting in a recondite office somewhere at the back of the labyrinthine Royal Opera House to talk about Mayara Magri’s debut in The Cellist, choreographer Cathy Marston’s account of the life of the phenomenal musician Jacqueline du Pré, so tragically cut short by multiple sclerosis.
This is the Royal Ballet’s first revival of Marston’s one-act work, which premiered four years ago, and Magri is excited to take on the central role.
‘I was an understudy when the ballet was created, and it’s really a privilege to be doing this role. It’s a role that tells the story, it’s very dramatic and we as artists can put a lot into that.’
So how did she prepare to take on the role of The Cellist?
‘I was very interested to know how her journey was in this world for the 42 years that she lived. I was familiar with her interpretation of the Elgar Cello Concerto – it’s one of the best-known cello pieces, and then I watched films about her, and read articles about how she became the greatest British cellist of her time.’
Magri had, of course, heard about MS, but had not met any sufferers, so she read a lot about the illness in preparation for The Cellist.
‘That’s one of the things I like about new creations, because it does make us read about things. These works are much more raw than the classics, and that’s one of things I like about this company, that we do portray lots of human roles.’
Delving further into The Cellist, ‘I was also interested in her relationship with her family, how her mum encouraged her to pursue this career, the talent she had even though she wasn’t a very orthodox player: she moved so much behind the cello as though she wanted to be noticed. She had the long hair, which is fascinating.’
And with a giggle, ‘I always wonder when I watch classical concerts whether they’re going to get their hair caught in the strings…’
No danger of that here, for although Marston has brought in a lot of subsidiary characters, the fulcrum of the ballet is the three-way relationship between The Cellist, The Conductor – her husband Daniel Barenboim – and The Instrument, performed by a male dancer.
Magri’s Instrument is first soloist Calvin Richardson, with whom she’s danced before: both debuted together in the title roles of MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet.
Mayara Magri and Calvin Richardson in Romeo and Juliet. Photo: © ROH
Still, there is a huge difference between dancing with a partner who’s performing a human role, and dancing with one who’s supposed to be a wooden musical instrument.
‘That's one of the most special parts of this ballet, the connection with The Instrument. The relationship is different because throughout the ballet, until she starts getting really ill, and avoids playing the cello, she’s not allowed to see the cello, so it’s just a presence. So, I’m not allowed to interact with the cello emotionally in any way. You just play and then he responds to how you feel at that time. But when she feels she can’t play any more, she has these moments of looking at The Instrument, almost physically talking to it, “I can’t play you any more, I can’t feel my hands, I don’t have control."
‘And it becomes a push-and-pull, him almost forcing her to play, but she has no control of her body.’
Mayara Magri and Calvin Richardson in rehearsal for The Cellist. Photo: Andrej Uspenski
The relationship with The Husband, danced in this cast by Lukas B Brændsrød, is quite different.
‘It’s about being bubbly, and “look how great we are, we have found love in music and we respond to it, so let’s go and chase the world, and travel and do concerts all over…” And it’s sad, because they had a really good bond and musically they responded to each other so well; but as soon as she starts falling behind through her illness, he actually chooses to keep going forward with his career.’
The Cellist was originally created on The Royal Ballet principal Lauren Cuthbertson, who leads the first cast in this revival, and whose interpretation defined the character. How difficult is it, then, to take on a role so clearly associated with someone else and make it your own?
‘It’s difficult, but when Lauren creates a role, she makes a lot of sense of everything, so she creates a plateful of choices. There’s always a thought process into why she moves from one scene to the other, what she’s feeling, and she’s been very helpful this time around.’
The opening of the season has been busy juggling two diametrically opposed ballets like Don Quixote and The Cellist– ‘it’s tiring physically and mentally!’ – and Magri feels that her relationship with Matthew Ball has been really helpful.
‘He understands very much how hard it is when things overlap. It’s also the situation with himself and we can help each other with the in-betweens of life. Sometimes getting home we don’t want to talk about work, but it’s really hard when it’s most of your life. Sometimes we catch ourselves having dinner and giving performance notes to each other.’
Magri and Ball have performed together: here they are in that much-loved virtuoso pas de deux from Le Corsaire.
Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball in Le Corsaire © ROH 2020. Photo: Rachel Hollings
Most of the time, though, they don’t dance together – for example, Ball is dancing The Conductor in the first cast of The Cellist; but they will be reunited for the fun roles of Basilio and Kitri in two forthcoming performances of Don Quixote, including the international live relay on Tuesday 7 November, which will be seen in Brazil, and is causing huge anticipation in Magri’s family.
Mayara Magri is enjoying her life as a principal in the company she dreamt of joining since starting ballet classes as an eight-year-old in her native Brazil. This is her third season in the top rank of the Royal Ballet and she says she feels 'more established' now.
‘As soon as you become a principal you want to prove yourself, so you want to get the good roles; but after two seasons, I can take it as it comes and just enjoy.’
Anemoi/The Cellist is in repertoire at the ROH from Friday 20 October to Thursday 2 November
Mayara Magri dances The Cellist on Saturday 21, Wednesday 25 October and Wednesday 1 November
The international live relay of Don Quixote, starring Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball, is on Tuesday 7 November
