BRB's Beauty and the Beast

Joanne · **Posted:** Wed Dec 03, 2003 7:13 am

Review from the Times.

Quote:

DARKNESS lurks at the heart of most fairytales, but David Bintley’s new production for Birmingham Royal Ballet is possibly the darkest fairytale ballet ever to grace the stage. Literally. The lighting for his Beauty and the Beast is so subdued that the scenery is barely discernible in parts and characters fade into the black like ghosts. This suits Bintley’s narrative style, which dwells on the gloomy. Murky supernatural forces that strike fear in mortal hearts; the agony and isolation of overwhelming physical disfigurement: it doesn’t get much grimmer than this

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And from The Guardian.

Quote:

There's a daunting amount of story to tell in the complete narrative of Beauty and the Beast. And one thing you have to admire in David Bintley's new production is the neatness with which he packs every stray detail and symbol into the plot.

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<small>[ 03 December 2003, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: Joanne ]</small>

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2003 4:14 am

Beauty and the Beast Birmingham Hippodrome CLEMENT CRISP
By Clement Crisp for The Financial Times

It is not easy to know what to make of David Bintley's new two-act, six-scene Beauty and the Beast, staged for his Birmingham Royal Ballet, and having its first performance on Monday. It is, of course, an entry in the must-see-for-Christmas stakes, a rival to dear Nutcrackeras a box-office darling. It boasts, and will do well to boast, superb design by Philip Prowse, which excites the imagination, delights the eye, performs prodigies of dramatic stimulation (which, alas, the other elements fail to do.) The Beast's domain is ripest Louis XIV, the Beauty's Charles X. Costuming is brilliant. It is well lit by Mark Jonathan.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2003 4:14 am

On reflection I am moving this topic to our "Holiday Performances" forum:

http://forum.criticaldance.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000214

<small>[ 04 December 2003, 05:16 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>


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BRB's Beauty and the Beast

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