Ten years ago, when Christopher Wheeldon created The Winter’s Tale, it was the first three-act ballet based on Shakespeare premiered at the Royal Ballet since Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet in 1965. It is also a masterpiece.
Watching it twice this week, I was struck by how brave it is. Bob Crowley’s stylised, richly coloured designs establish the contrast between two worlds: the cold, blue-hued winter of Leontes’s Sicily, where the king’s jealousy causes death and destruction, and bright, light-filled Bohemia from which reconciliation and hope spring.
Wheeldon paints an equally clear route through a complicated play, pruning away distractions, concentrating on the powerful emotion beneath. His expressive, original choreography constantly takes the boldest choice, from the tortured, spidery clutching that indicates Leontes’s madness, to the twisting jumps of the shepherd chorus in the joyful second act, to the tentative forgiveness of the close.
Within this clarity, individual dancers can colour each role with the nuance of their own interpretation. Opening night gave Cesar Corrales chance to display ferocity and fierce repentance as Leontes; Lauren Cuthbertson gave Hermione an aching sadness, filling her movement with agonised incomprehension. As Perdita and Florizel, Francesca Hayward and Marcelino Sambé were heartbreakingly lovely, full of fizzing grace and tenderness. Calvin Richardson brought humour and pride to wronged king Polixenes, while Marco Masciari’s Brother Clown blazed with fun and Melissa Hamilton made Paulina a figure of tragic, detailed gravity.
In a different cast, Matthew Ball’s debut as Leontes was more inward, Leontes, finding beautiful notes of doubt within his raging; Marianela Nuñez was a dignified Hermione. Joseph Sissens and Viola Pantuso also made their debuts as the younger lovers; she is only at the start of her career, yet already makes a strong yet delicate impression. His wholehearted abandon is matched by the height of his jumps. Liam Boswell shone as Brother Clown, Marianna Tsembenhoi caught the eye as his girlfriend.
Everyone danced beautifully; everyone looked happy. As well they might. This Winter’s Tale is a gift.
