(Piotr Stanczyk in Hamlet. Photo by Aleksandar Antonijevic. Image from the National Ballet of Canada's website)
One of the neat things about living in the Big Smoke is having access to a variety of performances that would be impossible to provide inside the confines of a city like Halifax (oh, at one time weren't you the big city dame that captured my heart). I'm not talking about the old guy who busks in front of the Forest Hill Loblaws, singing Crash Test Dummies (perhaps too chipperly) or that breakdancer guy at the north-east corner Yonge and Dundas who stoically stands there until you throw in a dollar. Those are neat things, but transferable to other cities.
No, I'm referring to institutions that require heaps of money, particularly from donors, to operate, the kind you wouldn't be able to readily raise with a music device and a bit of talent. The National Ballet of Canada is one such company, currently under the direction of (the still fabulous looking) Karen Kain.
Of course, I'm not really the kind of guy to partake in watching ballet, but I am the kind of guy with a girlfriend who partakes in watching ballet. Since moving to Toronto, I've seen probably only half a dozen ballet performances, but despite not being a "fan" I do have to say that the raw athleticism displayed by performers is admirable, much in the same way that watching figure skaters at the Olympics can be enjoyable despite having little interest in the sport itself.
Yesterday, I had the chance to catch Kevin O'Day's production of Hamlet at the Four Seasons Centre venue. I admit that I'm not a big fan of Shakespeare, but for a general lack of interest in reading books rather than a general lack of interest in reading plays. As far as they go, I find Hamlet to be one of his better works that I have read, and certainly there are no lack of authors who have taken the basic structure and adapted it. Disney's The Lion King is perhaps one of the best known pieces that shares the basic plot, transforming the lead into a lion, having "Claudius" played by Jeremy Irons, and adding a monkey that knows kung fu. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is an amusing example of two characters bumbling through Hamlet, completely unaware of what is going on, and unknowingly sent to their deaths once they arrive in England. In short, why not a ballet?
(It would be improper for me not to thank Alex for the ticket, although unfortunately not under the best of circumstances; she has a very sick cat that is currently requiring most of her attention. Get better Mocha!)
O'Day wisely decided that a contemporary ballet (if you don't know what that is, think non-traditional) would be the best way to express the emotions of the play's characters, and he largely part he succeeds in showing the audience the frustration Hamlet feels as he struggles to decide whether to avenge his father or not, the cautious concern Claudius has for his distant son-in-law, and poor Ophelia, who perhaps like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (R&G), is missing the key piece of the puzzle that is driving Hamlet's madness. The grief-stricken Hamlet pounds the floor in his rage, R&G play merry games, ones perhaps more fit for a keg party than a ballet, and Ophelia haunting moans, before her suicide. Haunting percussion fills in the gaps as the "actors" spar with each other.
Unfortunately for the ballet, it appeared that the structure of Hamlet produces two very different halves. The first two acts of the play spend much of the time setting up the second half, explaining the characters and their motivations. The second half is full of murder and sword fights. What follows from the ballet is a confusing and muddled first half where the dancers seem to stretch the time out, their motions able to convey emotion but not necessarily intent. I admit that it has been a while since I read Hamlet; without the reader notes I wouldn't have understood who this mysterious gentlemen who-is-not-Hamlet dancing with Ophelia was (her brother, Laertes). Maybe it's just me, but the difference between sibling love and romantic love can look pretty similar in ballet with dance as the only form of communication. The absence of the ghost of Hamlet's father bothered me a bit.
Regardless, things certainly pick up in the second half, with a jazzy drum beat and a group of dancers creating a frantic and fun scene that has Hamlet setting up the "play with in a play" to divine whether Claudius is a no-good dad murderer or not, that cascades into the death of Polonius, Ophelia (who plays the best of the show with her final scene), and then the duel between Hamlet and Laertes which ensures no one leaves alive. If anything, the second half's brilliant construction is crammed into too short a period, placing more emphasis on action than dancing.
Still, the legibility of the second act of the ballet makes up for the sometimes plodding first act, and despite a bit of a confusing sword duel at the end the sum product was quite satisfactory. I felt a bit cheated by the first act as I came out of the Four Seasons Centre, but I think O'Day did about as best as he could with it; I earlier mentioned the lack of Hamlet's ghost dad, who probably would have spiced things up, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that would have really have done anything but stop the characters from dancing so much, which I guess should probably be the point of a ballet right?
Upcoming is this seasons performance of Chroma, which for those who don't know is a short contemporary piece danced to several White Stripes songs (performed by a symphony, rather than the original music. It's a unique take on "Hardest Button to Button" I assure you. It plays with a few other short ballets, some traditional (I like the ones with lots of people dancing at once) and others more contemporary (last year they had one where the performers were acting kind of like ants) I saw it last year and it was pretty good, so I'm looking forward to it. If you're in Toronto, I urge you to check it out, even if ballet isn't your thing.
- Eddie