Sleeping Beauty

Scottish Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty—the brain-child of Ashley Page and Antony McDonald—is in its second year of touring the UK. The familiar fairy tale has been given an invigorating re-telling, set against the classical compositions of Tchaikovsky.

As a baby, Princess Aurora (Claire Robertson) is cursed by the jealous evil fairy Carabosse (Victoria Willard) to be met with disaster upon her 16th birthday. Fortunately, the good Lilac Fairy (Soon Ja Lee) is able to avert total disaster by changing the result of the finger-prick to a deep sleep, and then to bring the handsome Prince (Erik Cavallari) to where she lies.

Ably conveying subtle plot changes and complicated psychologies through the medium of traditional ballet, the expressive movements of the dancers and the emotive music (conducted by Nicholas Kok) help to clarify the already familiar story to the audience.

But most striking about this production is the splendour of the costumes. With acts set in the Victorian era and post-War 1940s, as aristocrats and royalty brush shoulders with fairies and fairytale heroines, the costume design department have evidently relished the task of creating vivid and lavish outfits. The ladies’ dresses float and twirl enchantingly as they dance. There's also plenty of precarious headwear in the final act, which certainly adds to the colourful and adventurous costumes.

The dancing itself in fact seems more subdued, less obtrusive, compared to the outfits. However the intricate patterns created by the dancers are often breathtaking: the scene in which Aurora is invited to choose between four princely suitors is cleverly executed with seemingly incidental movements which combine for a slick and enjoyable sequence.

Regretably, the third and final act of the performance—celebrating the marriage of Aurora to her Prince Charming—drags on as the principal dancers perform somewhat contrived solos and duets. Nevertheless Scottish Ballet’s production is extravagant and colourful with plenty of grace and charm – a winning and magical combination of traditional balletic conventions and contemporary flamboyance.