Rapunzel

Rapunzel by Fiona Quinn

In approximately one hour I will be watching a ballet performance of Carol Ann Duffy's Rapunzel, as part of Durham's Book Festival. My school got given 20 free tickets by the theatre, and asked sixth formers that were free on Friday's if they'd like to go. I've never been to a ballet before, so I'm quite excited to see what it's like, especially as I'm told the costumes are made by the same costume designer of Game of Thrones. I'm going to bring my camera to try and get some photographs, although I'm not sure I'll be allowed, so I have a sketchbook ready instead. They can't stop me drawing! >:3

I'll update this post with a review later, either after the show in the library or on Monday. In the meantime, I hope everyone has an good Friday. :3

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As promised, here's the update :3

I went into the theatre anticipating a ballet, half expecting it to be boring, as right before I left a friend told me that she had been the night before, and had left at the interval. However, I tried to keep an open mind, and despite it being a school visit we had very good seats in the second row. We sat for a good 20 minutes or so while waiting for everyone else to take their seats, and I admired the scenery set out on the stage, which consisted of large metal frames, winding around each other with some leaves towards the top, to represent a forest. The set was cleverly designed as it moved to create a bed, the forest, the house, and the tower.

The performance was full of metaphors and symbolism, such as pregnant women carrying around a little nest with an egg inside. I'll admit, I found the opening a little tedious, and difficult to understand. It consisted of people dancing across the stage, throwing giant red and white balloons around, and a couple dancing at the top of a tower.

 

Finally it got into the story, starting with Rapunzel's parents sitting in their bedroom looking over at the witch's garden. The costumes for most of the dancers were fairly simple, however there were two tortoises (I think anyway xD) that followed the witch around, and their costumes were AMAZING. I had to do a double take when they first came on stage because I saw the big heads and for a split second, thought they were real animals. Sadly, I wasn't allowed to take photographs, so I'll try my best to find a picture of them.

 

There were no lines throughout the show, only a voiceover reading out the story every so often, and some music. The second half of the show was much better than the first, and I especially liked the way they had Rapunzel's hair. Obviously, she can't dance with such a long wig on, so she danced around a tree in the tower, and long sections of hair were twisted around the branches.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, but I don't think it should be advertised as a ballet, as it's more contemporary dance. I also think I liked it more for the artistic side than for the dancing, since I don't know much about it.

A picture I found on the internet from the performance