Northern Ballet, Geisha, Sadler's Wells

Leeds-based Northern Ballet specialises in full-length narrative works, having commissioned and performed stage adaptations of novels as complex as George Orwell’s 1984 and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

The company has also commissioned original work, such as Cathy Marston’s evocation of the life of Queen Victoria; and Kenneth Tindall’s graphic take on the scandalous life and times of the great seducer, Casanova.

Now the company enters its 50th anniversary season with a new ballet by Kenneth Tindall, Geisha.

Geisha tells the story of two friends, Aiko and Okichi, who are inseparable until forced apart by a shock of cultures, when they’re obliged by their own traditions to be hospitable to Western visitors.

Okichi seeks oblivion from dishonour in death but, unable to find peace, she returns to the world of the living as a ghost to wreck Aiko’s life.

However, an act of true devotion will help Okichi find redemption – but you’ll have to see the ballet to learn its denouement.

Northern Ballet’s 40 or so dancers are specialist dance actors, adapting their strong classical ballet technique to the narrative needs of the work they’re performing at any given time.

This time they are required to enact what Kenneth Tindall calls ‘the mysterious and intriguing world of the geisha,’ in an original story devised by Tindall in collaboration with the documentary director and screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes.

Geisha is set to a specially commissioned score by Bafta Cymru award-winning composer Alexandra Harwood. Sets and costumes are by Christopher Oram, the multi-award-winning designer of a number of major stage works, including Disney’s Frozen.

Lighting design is by Alastair West.

Northern Ballet’s Geisha looks like a stylish and engaging production, a fitting start to the commemorations of the company’s 50th anniversary, and comes to Sadler’s Wells as part of a nationwide tour.

Age Guidance: 12+