Review: Beauty and the Beast at Norwich’s Theatre Royal

The Northern Ballet’s Beauty and the Beast is living up to its title, delivering a sumptuous mix of art and animalism at the Norwich Theatre Royal this week.

This ballet can be enjoyed by anyone. Choreographer, director and costume designer David Nixon has created a production that not only looks like a piece of living art, but also manages to tell an engaging story. It will make you laugh, it will make sensitive souls cry, and – hallelujah – it is easy to follow without buying a programme.

Plot is often given a back seat in ballet, with more effort spent on showcasing skilful dances and exciting costumes. In Beauty, Nixon’s choreography goes further than this, twisting ballet techniques to do his bidding. He tells the story with every movement of his dancers, the way ballet ought to.

The opening pieces are both hilariously put together – first the vain prince with his flock of admirers, and then the introduction of Beauty and her shopaholic sisters. The style is Matthew Bourne-esque, blending large silent movie gestures with dance to show emotions and character development.

Like Bourne, the tone this creates is playful and exaggerated, yet beautiful. The costume designs, by Nixon and Julie Anderson, add to the Bourne-esque feel. These costumes are stunning and need to be witnessed. They blend time periods to create a fantastical couture, and the audience could not resist whispering about them throughout the performance.

The Beauty is well danced, yet a flat character. This is perhaps intentional, as the rest of the characters are so vivid and the Beast so complex. Duncan Hayler’s set designs allow the Beast’s dancer a feral ownership of the stage, allowing him to leap, hang and scale the walls.

On Tuesday night, the role was surprisingly danced by Giuliano Contadini, one of the Coryphée dancers (above the corps or choral dancers, but below the soloists). Giuliano rose to the challenge, giving a stunningly masculine yet vulnerable performance.

He is, in every movement, both a frustrated man and a wild creature. He shan’t dance the role again this week, but given the consistency of the company’s dancers, it is safe to assume that the upcoming Beasts shall be equally impressive.

However, the production has its weak points. The first act had the blessing of characters to establish, whereas the second act follows Beauty and the Beast’s developing relationship. The ballet clearly struggles to portray this subtle development. Sadly, the result is an odd combination of rushed plot points and extensive filler dances.

This weaker act is almost made up for by its strong opening. The Beast daydreams about how easily his old self could win Beauty’s love, watching her dance with the Prince and meekly shadowing their movements. It is a dance of three people, delivered as a duet, with the Beast ignored by the couple and yet stealing the audience’s attention.

Every scene in this ballet deserves to be described, but it is much better seen for yourself. Though it ends on a weaker act, the experience is still fantastic. The quality of the dancers and the entire show is far stronger and more professional than recent Northern Ballet productions at the Theatre Royal, and can be enjoyed by ballet fans and non-ballet fans alike. Just don’t go expecting Disney’s dancing furniture, or you will be sourly disappointed!