Synopsis
The classic tale of the tortoise & the hare told in ballet form.
- I love ballet.
- Cineworld show Bolshoi and ROH performances in their cinemas... just not at Bristol and sadly the nearest one that does isn't exactly very near.
When I saw that they were showing ballet for children at our cinema I thought I'd give it a go, after all it would be rude to moan about them not showing ballet and then not go when they do!
It was definitely an experience, but not a great one.
The beauty of seeing ballet and theatre productions live, I mention theatre too because this issue plagues both things, is that you see everything. Actors are still performing even though they're not in the main action and often some of those little touches are magical. You also get to appreciate just how much work is put in behind the scenes, cast and crew are trained to change the sets at the drop of a hat. When you get a filmed version of something you're forced to see what someone else thinks you should be looking at. You get close ups of specific dancers/actors even though someone just danced out of shot and we're focused on someone standing still.
I would quite happily sit in the cinema and watch the production from a steady cam that's sat in the middle of the auditorium with a view of the whole stage. That's the way the production is designed and I really feel that's how they should be viewed. Anyway, before I get even more bogged down in that let's get on to the actual show I saw.
Review
Before the main feature there was a short cartoon, Jungle Beat: Crush. I'm just going to shrug, I don't understand why it was included. It wasn't related, and while it was cute it wasn't particularly good.
The tortoise and the hare is a wonderfully simple tale that is a great favourite with children and lends itself to this sort of production. Now I know this is a production designed for children... I know this... but... argh... how to describe my frustration?
First off we get a woman sitting with a large book of the tortoise & the hare and she tells us the story which is cut with animated pieces. Once she's finished the story we then meet the main live characters (although I'm fairly certain the hare we met wasn't the hare who competes in the race) before watching them perform the ballet...
For the life of me I can't work out why you would tell the story twice one after the other.
Let's take it step by step.
The narrated section was very Blue Peter, with our reader sat infront of a rather gawdy animated backdrop. I wasn't overly taken with the retelling of the story shown as one piece like that... I have an opinion on this point which I'll save for later.
The meet the characters section was a nice idea and would definitely help the children to identify them but... it had audience participation and wanted adults and children to get up and do the character's signature dance moves. The hare movements were impossible in such a confined space but some of the kids gave the tortoise moves a good go. It felt like a very poorly thought out idea, unless it's a workshop performance in a school hall with a small audience I don't see how that would successfully work.
The ballet itself is actually cut into scenes, there's no set movement, it's cut like a film. The whole perfomance is run to music with no narration which means you have to hope that the audience remembers the story. The characters are made up nicely though and have face prosthetics (unlike in the video above), I particularly liked the way that the tortoise incorporated his shell so well while he danced.
I was so ready to love this production. I wanted to go and rave about it and tell all my friends they should take their children to see it. I love the idea that we're getting them excited about different forms of theatre. But in all honesty I think this show was badly structured.
Personally (and yes I'm aware I'm no expert, but common sense can make some easy adjustments here) I think that the narration and ballet should have run together. She could have been sitting in the front of the stage and told the story while they were dancing, or she could have told the piece of the story as the set was being changed to then perform it. The flow would have worked better and hidden the slightly dubious retelling. Scrapping the meet the characters section, or at least the audience participation bit, wouldn't have gone amiss either.
"But Emma, this wasn't designed for adults to watch, it was made for children." That might be true but just because they're kids doesn't mean they should be seeing a watered down version of something that had the potential to be a masterpiece.
Well done to the cast for performing with bunny slippers, prosthetics and a tortoise shell. Being able to do that takes a lot of talent, I was especially impressed that the hare was leaping over things with his fluffy feet. I just don't think that such a short production really gives them the chance to shine, particularly when they have to share the bill with so many other things.
What you should do
There are other showings of this and their two other productions coming up over the next couple of months, but I would personally wait until Christmas time and take them to a production of the Nutcracker or see if there are an local groups or school doing shows.
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