‘Big Brother is Watching You’: Northern Ballet 2015
Living up to their reputation for imaginative new works the Northern Ballet has announced its latest innovation; an adaptation of the literary classic by George Orwell, 1984. A Jonathan Watkins’ creation the World Premiere will debut in September 2015 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse (Leeds), before embarking on a major UK tour.
In the last few years the Northern Ballet has gone from strength to strength. This September it won the Taglioni European Ballet Award, whilst earlier in the year it received the Best Family Venue Award, Best Family Event Award and Best Family Welcome Award for their performance of The Three Little Pigs as part of the Family Arts Festival, which involved 928 organisations from across the UK and attracted over 600,000 people. The key to this success seems to be their ability to take some of our favourite stories and add ballet shoes. Last year they succeeded in transforming The Great Gatsby, a novel notoriously difficult to stage, into ‘the must see ballet of 2013’.
This latest endeavour to bring dance to new audiences, 1984 will depict Winston Smith’s struggle against the totalitarian regime of Big Brother. In an act of rebellion Winston begins to write a diary and becomes engaged in a covert affair with Julia. Together he and Julia become involved in the Brotherhood, a legendary group working to overthrow Big Brother, but they are betrayed. After months of torture and brainwashing Winston snaps, giving up Julia, and learns to love Big Brother. Whilst this is a brilliant novel, it remains to be seen whether the story of Winston Smith and Big Brother can be portrayed en pointe.
Following the announcement of the 1984 premiere the Northern Ballet also introduced its Spring 2015 programme. Set to be the season of iconic love stories it will open with Christophe Maillot’s Romeo and Juliet before bringing the turbulent love affairs of Wuthering Heights to the stage. This will be the first time a British company will perform one of Maillot’s ballets, but if his version of The Taming of the Shrew, performed recently by the Bolshoi, is anything to go by, it is sure to be spectacular. The Great Gatsby will once again be touring the UK, and the Northern Ballet’s 2015 children’s ballet will be The Elves and the Shoemaker. In addition, the Northern Ballet will be putting on performances of Madame Butterfly and Christopher Hampson’s Perpetuum Mobile as well as their Sapphire Gala to celebrate the company’s 45th anniversary.