| ‘Only a poet could have conceived a ballet like Enigma, and only the audacity of genius could have brought it off’ (David Vaughan, Ashton’s biographer). Frederick Ashton’s 1968 ballet is set to Elgar’s eponymous score, which was composed as a series of musical portraits celebrating – and at times caricaturing – members of Elgar’s inner circle. Inspired by designs created years earlier by rising star Julia Trevelyan Oman, Ashton’s choreography translates these intimate character sketches into a series of vivid dance portraits. From the profound, elegiac quality of ‘Nimrod’, evoking deep friendship tinged with anxiety and loneliness, to the witty portrayal of George Robertson Sinclair and his bulldog Dan, and the flirtatious lightness of Dorabella’s variation, Ashton brings each figure to life with remarkable economy of movement; pared-back and restrained, but imbued with personality and meaning. |
MUSIC
Edward Elgar (Variations on an Original Theme, “Enigma” Opus 36)
SCENERY & COSTUMES
Julia Trevelyan Oman
DANCERS
Edward Elgar (E D U): Derek Rencher; The Lady – Elgar’s Wife (C A E): Svetlana Beriosova; Hew David Steuart-Powell (H D S-P): Stanley Holden; Richard Baxter Townshend (R B T): Brian Shaw; William Meath Baker (W M B): Alexander Grant; Richard P Arnold (R P A): Robert Mead; Isabel Fitton (Ysabel): Vyvyan Lorrayne; Arthur Troyte Griffith (Troyte): Anthony Dowell; Winifred Norbury (W N): Georgina Parkinson; A J Jaeger (Nimrod): Desmond Doyle; Dora Penny (Dorabella): Antoinette Sibley; George Robertson Sinclair (G R S): Wayne Sleep; Basil G Nevinson (B G N): Leslie Edwards; Lady Mary Lygon (***): Deanne Bergsma; Schoolgirl: Patricia Linton; Country Boy and Girl: Donald Kirkpatrick, Lesley Collier; Sailor Boy and Girl: Frank Freeman, Christine Aitken; Housekeeper: Julie Wood; Gardener: Ronald Plaisted; The Carrier: Gary Sinclair; Country Woman: Lois Strike; Telegraph Boy: John Haynes
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, London, 25 October 1968
New Stagings / Productions
Birmingham Royal Ballet, 1994
STAGING
Birmingham Royal Ballet
REPRODUCED BY
Michael Somes
DANCERS
Edward Elgar: Desmond Kelly; The Lady: Sherilyn Kennedy; Hew David Steuart-Powell: Paul Bayes-Kitcher; Richard Baxter Townshend: David Morse; William Meath Baker: Samuel Armstrong; Richard P Arnold: Duncan de Gruchy; Isabel Fitton: Jessica Clarke; Arthur Troyte Griffith: Kevin O’Hare; Winifred Norbury: Ravenna Tucker; A J Jaeger: Alain Dubreuil; Dora Penny: Sandra Madgwick; George Robinson Sinclair: Edwin Mota; Basil G Nevinson: Leslie Edwards; Lady Mary Lygon: Catherine Batcheller
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Hippodrome, Birmingham, 21 October 1994
Copyright © 2004 by David Vaughan. ‘Work note’ © Frederick Ashton Foundation.
This listing is part of a chronology that was originally published in Vaughan’s Frederick Ashton and His Ballets (Alfred E Knopf 1976; 2nd ed., London: Dance Books, 1999) and includes new productions added since then, and up until 2007