Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl and Alastair Marriott’s Connectome provoked mixed reactions when they were first performed in 2013 and 2014, respectively. But both ballets have become beneficiaries of the Royal’s very proper commitment to giving controversial new works a second chance, and allowing choreographers the opportunity to take a second look at their material.
Raven Girl was McGregor’s first major narrative work and, based on Audrey Niffenegger’s story about a postman who falls in love with a raven, it was his very 21st-century nod to the fairytale traditions of ballet. In its first incarnation, though, the work was dominated by the mechanics of the storytelling; aside from the beautifully delineated role of the Raven Girl – the daughter of the Postman and the Raven, who is torn between the human and the avian strands of her DNA – it impressed rather than moved.
In McGregor’s revised version, even more has been made of the Girl’s conflicted nature. As she matures, she’s visited by visions of birds – dark, glittering creatures who try to draw her back into their world. More, too, is made of the Postman, not only as the Girl’s father but as the author of her story. Horrified by his daughter’s struggle, he’s forced to rewrite her script, allowing her to fly away from the human world and into an exquisitely pitched happy ending, spinning high above the stage in the arms of her Raven Prince.
There are still some longueurs, but the ballet does work and it’s brilliantly served by Sarah Lamb, who is alternately awkward, luminous and fierce as the conflicted Raven Girl.
Connectome, unfortunately, looks less good on a second outing. It was created as a vehicle for the stage-scorching talent of Natalia Osipova, and while Lauren Cuthbertson is very fine as Osipova’s replacement, the quieter intelligence of her dancing exposes the weaker cliches of Marriott’s choreography.
- Royal Opera House, London, in rep until 24 October. Box office: 020-7304 4000
