Coppelia and The Supermarket Suite ☆☆☆☆☆
This double bill of all-male jazz ballet starts with Supermarket Sweep set to The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky and concludes with Coppelia by Delibes.
The opening scene of Supermarket Sweep sees life working in a supermarket through the eyes of two members of staff (performed by Thomas Buckley and Hayden Tierney). A basic but recognizable set of characters and plot are sketched out with Tchaikovsky’s lush, melodic score matching the comedy of modern manners that Supermarket Suite parodies so well. Enter a camp difficult customer (Jack Buchanan) and a hot jock (the jaw-droppingly statuesque Lewis Rimmer) and sparks begin to fly with the choreography bouncing off tunes such as Dance of the Reed Flutes in great style.
After a short pause for a set change, Coppelia starts and we are transported to a Soho of gaudy neon and the frisky denizens of a venue called the “Ballet Barre”. Roughly following the original plot of Coppelia, it seems that the Stag (Tierney) and Hen (Rimmer) are out celebrating their forthcoming nuptial ably supported by the hilarious Hag (Buchanan) when everything is disrupted by the creepily effective Buckley playing the villain.
The stand-out dance is the duet between Stag and Hen not (just) because they are in their knickers but because the choreography and the music all combine to create an emotionally tender moment and deliver on the promise of an all-male ballet. Tierney’s strong technical ability and Rimmer’s exceptional gracefulness are perfectly matched in an already exceptionally well-cast evening.
The humor is there throughout and the dance of the dildos is a sight to behold (and in a church hall too!) and caps off a gloriously silly but strangely enchanting evening.
Choreography and Direction by WILLIAM SPENCER
Music by Tchaikovsky and Delibes
Orchestrated and reimagined by AARON CLINGHAM Lighting Design by MICHAEL BRENKLEY
REVIEW : JONNY WARDJonny Ward, Queerguru Contributing EDITOR is a drama graduate but has worked backstage for many years at venues such as The ROYAL ALBERT Hall, The 02, Southbank Centre and is currently at The NATIONAL THEATRE. He lives in Hoxton, London and is delighted to check out the latest, the hottest and the downright dodgy in queer culture for Queerguru. (P.S. He is currently single) @JonnyWard360
Labels: 2021, ballet, Garden Theatre, Jonny Ward, London, review
