Sadlers Wells Theatre, London – until 10 June 2021
Reviewed by Alun Hood
5*****
A ballet inspired by an eighteenth century epistolary novel? They’re just writing letters to each other but now they’re dancing it out? Um, ok.
Despite the multiple award-winning and oft-revived Christopher Hampton play adaptation and the Glenn Close-John Malkovich film version, Choderlos de Laclose’s tale of sexual treachery and power abuse still feels like an unusual choice as the basis for ballet treatment.
Or at least it does until you encounter Northern Ballet’s scintillating version which ingeniously marries together the complexities of the story (the ballet begins and ends sans orchestra and with spoken word as we are pulled back in time by the now-raddled anti-heroine recalling her erotic triumphs under Alastair West’s quintet of sparkling yet vaguely ominous chandeliers) with a cut-to-the-chase physicality that feels elegant but appropriately dangerous.
David Nixon OBE’s storytelling is swift, clear and dynamic, and his choreography frequently takes the breath away: the moment when the scheming Marquise de Meurteil (a malevolently beautiful Minju Kang at the performance I saw, although the piece is triple cast) turns all the other characters into flailing marionettes, a move that fatally rebounds on her later in the story, is delightfully unsettling. The striking rape/seduction pas de deux is another master stroke, juxtaposing immaculate classic lines with distressingly angular splayed hands and jagged limbs. In a witty nod to the structure of the original novel, letters and notes are handed around between characters as the story progresses.
Mlindi Kulashi is a mesmerising seducer as Valmont and watching him soften as he falls (who wouldn’t?!) for Dominique Larose’s luminously beautiful Tourvel is genuinely fascinating, making his ultimate rejection of her all the more painful. This is acting-through-dance of the highest order. Aerys Merrill and Lorenzo Trossello are captivating and technically magnificent as two younger victims of the central pair’s machinations.
Hearing the Vivaldi score played exquisitely by the Northern Ballet Sinfonia under the baton of Daniel Parkinson is another great pleasure in this richly enjoyable evening. It’s also wonderful to see authentic diversity in the cast of dancers across all the companies performing this glorious work. All in all, this is a real treat and it’s very tempting to go back today and see the other casts.