The choreographer George Balanchine once said there were no mothers-in-law in ballet, by which he meant there shouldn’t be, as some relationships just don’t work in dance. And what is true of in-laws is also true of dead fathers and new stepfathers, as well as troubled young men who watch their mothers remarry rather too soon after their fathers have died.
The problem for Northern Ballet Theatre is that these fraught family connections are key themes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a play it has turned into a new-ish dance-drama. The company, a committed troupe geared to the family market, struggles with the subject and much of its Hamlet is incomprehensible. It’s almost impossible to work out who is living and who is a ghost, while Hamlet’s relationships with Gertrude, Claudius, and Laertes are equally muddy.
Hamlet is also a bleak and complicated story for the pre-teens, a key audience for NBT and one it has served well in the past. In fairness, the dancers are dignified and able, while the choreography shows them to good effect. Also good is the new music by Philip Feeney, and the sets and costumes cleverly evoke WW2-era Paris, where this Hamlet is set.
The lead dancers, Christopher Hinton-Lewis as Hamlet, Nathalie Leger as Gertrude, and Georgina May’s Ophelia, gave sustained performances. However, there’s no avoiding the baffling drama or the dancing Nazis who are more likely to make you smirk than shudder.
Until 26 April (0844 412 4300)
Northern Ballet Theatre: Hamlet
Sadler's Wells
Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN
