Woolf Works is a beauty – a ballet of ravishing feeling and radical intellectual intent. When it premiered at the Royal Ballet in 2015, it felt like a breakthrough for its choreographer, Wayne McGregor. Now, returning for only its 19th performance, it appears like a classic – one of those rare moments when form and content in dance are reshaped and repurposed.
At its centre stands Alessandra Ferri, who came back to both the stage and the Royal Ballet to create the role of Virginia Woolf. Now almost 60 (and sharing the role at other performances with Natalia Osipova and Marianela Nuñez), she lends it even more depth. It’s her grave, graceful presence, full of tremulous hope and dragging, drowning sorrow, that anchors the piece.
