(This review may contain spoilers).
So, I left the cinema, having seen the ballet of The Winter’s Tale broadcast live, and I’m left with one word – awesome.
Up until now, I’ve never really been that interested in ballet. My sister and I went to lessons when we were younger, but it was so long ago, the only ‘proof’ I had was a photo that’s probably been long since lost.
I wanted to see this because I thought it might be interesting to watch just to see what a ballet is like. I wasn’t expecting to be drawn into it as quickly and well as I was.
Since there was no dialogue in this, I felt that the dancers did an amazing job of showing the emotions of the characters. The dancing was really good. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of work that must have gone into this.
The music was particularly effective and I felt it really worked for the different acts. The costumes were really good and appealing as well.
The music group on the stage was a little distracting at times, but for the most part, I didn’t notice them. Their costumes worked really well at blending into the scenes.
There were some really effective scenery pieces, especially when it came to the boats and the bear. A couple of times, I did find it somewhat difficult to read what was going on, but considering that I’d not heard of this play before, I felt that the storyline was mostly clear.
I felt that the dancers portraying the characters did a fantastic job. I especially liked Edward Watson as Leontes. The full range of emotions of the character he portrayed came across really well. I like the others too, but he was by far my favourite.
This is definitely a ballet I’d watch again and one I would recommend. I feel it’s one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve seen and it’s obvious how much work has gone into it.
