Ballet Boyz Michael Nunn and William Trevitt have had so many rave reviews, they may be surprised to get, if not a bad one, exactly, then a definite no-glow.
With what they describe as a grown-up tale of "love and betrayal", the Royal Ballet runaways have set aside their pure-dance mixed bills and created their first-ever story-ballet. Never shrinking violets, they've called it Naked and say it tracks the emotional fate of six characters linked by "a moment of desire that leads to fury and retribution".
So far, so sizzling. Add the stellar choreographic input of Russell Maliphant, Fotini Dimou's gorgeous chiffony costumes, and the bed-head smoulder of Monica Zamora and Oxana Panchenko, and you'd expect box-office meltdown.
Chunks of Naked are appealing, especially the designs and all six performers, including Nunn and Trevitt themselves, plus Panchenko and Zamora, and newcomers Yvette Halfhide and Thomas Linecar. However, the production feels busy, and much of the action is disconnected, more like oil and water than an integrated dance-drama.
The main problem is the muddy narrative. Admittedly, Nunn and Trevitt say they are conveying "theme and emotion" rather than beginning, middle and end, but you still need to know who desires whom and when they get betrayed.
In Naked, you're not sure. Is it one couple imagining three past affairs, or three couples bed-hopping with their friends? The imprecision means you can't sympathise with any of them, a sort of multiple disloyalty syndrome, and you soon tire of the wall-to-wall angst.
Another problem is Russell Maliphant's choreography, dazzling in the pure dance works he's made for Nunn and Trevitt, but lacking the expressive allure you need for dance-drama. Much looks anonymous, although the pulse quickens during the slo-mo pas de trois for the women, implying their emotional tug and push, and the daring fall, catch and balance of Nunn and Trevitt's final duet.
The other thing I have to tut-tut about is the nudity, and not for Mary Whitehouse reasons. Monica Zamora topless is, truly, a vision of feminine loveliness, but it's also a theatrical cul de sac - the top comes off, the top goes on. And where do you go from nipples?
The big, old story-ballets are often marked down as theatrically soft. In fact, they're some of the most sophisticated theatre you will see, with character and narrative, plot and drama, tension and resolution all conveyed in steps. You realise their genius when you mine their appeal.
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