Review: The Sleeping Beauty at The Lowry is ‘jam-packed with impeccable choreography’

The Lowry plays host to the Birmingham Royal Ballet performing Sir Peter Wright’s production of The Sleeping Beauty, a powerful ballet with incredible athleticism and technical dancing set to iconic orchestral music.

The Sleeping Beauty at The Lowry

The plot begins with the christening of baby Princess Aurora in the court of King Florestan XXI (Jonathan Payn) and His Queen (Tori Forsyth-Hecken) who have invited all the fairies (played by Isabella Howard, Rosanna Ely, Rachelle Pizzillo, Reina Fuchigami, Sofia Liñares, Yu Kurihara) from all over the land for the event.

However, the fiendish Fairy Carabosse (Daria Stanciulescu) gatecrashes the party and rides into court in style to get revenge for being univited.

She curses the baby Aurora saying she will prick her finger and die.

The Lilac Fairy (Eilis Small) arrives and says she will protect the baby from Carabosse’s curse.

Princess Aurora as Momoko Hirata

Act One and fast forward sixteen years and Princess Aurora (Momoko Hirata) is grown up and presented to court where she dances with four princely suitors (Haoliang Feng, Miles Gilliver, Yasiel Hodelín Bello, Lachlan Monaghan).

That is until Carabosse returns in disguise to finally exact her revenge.

Aurora pricks her finger but, thanks to the Lilac Fairy, she doesn’t die. Instead, she and the entire royal court fall asleep for a hundred years as the Lilac Fairy grows an enchanted forest around them to protect them.

Act Two, The Vision, follows Prince Florimund (Max Maslen) and his hunting party. The prince receives a vision of Princess Aurora from the Lilac Fairy, the Prince makes up his mind and enters deep into the forest to find his true love.

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s masterful performance

The performers of Birmingham Royal Ballet bring the story to life with a mastery of their art that is beautifully accompanied by the original score of the ballet’s creator Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, perfectly performed by The Royal Ballet Sinfonia (conducted by Paul Murphy, led by Joana Valentinaviciute).

The dancers’ skills are clear for all to see as they perform impeccable dance manoeuvres and routines that carry the show’s narrative.

The entirety of the company gets moments to shine and display their dancing prowess especially in the final act which features dances from many different fairy tale creatures such as Puss in Boots (Gus Payne), the White Cat (Isabella Howard), The Bluebird (Riku Ito), the Enchanted Princess (Yaoqian Shang), Red Riding Hood (Tessa Hogge), the Big Bad Wolf (Callum Findlay-White) and many more as they all dance together in an ensemble dance with exceptional choreography.

Momoko Hirata shines as Princess Aurora with her elegant and agile performance, as to does Max Maslen as Prince Florimund. Both perform at the top of their game to display their ballet skills, especially in their performance of the Grand Pas de Deux in the final act.

Throughout the production is the conflict between the Lilac Fairy and Carabosse which acts as the spine around which the narrative is built upon. Eilis Small and Daria Stanciulescu both deliver great performances and are always a welcome presence on stage.

Sensational set design

A true strength of the show is the set design with amazing locales such as the royal court room looking like it has emerged from a painting. To complete the look of a fairy tale brought to life and giving the show a real classical feel, the wonderful sets blends with the excellent costumes that are both vibrant and filled with character,

The show is structured into four parts – a prologue and two acts each approximately 30 minutes long, before a final act that is 38 minutes, with two 15-minute intervals interceding. The show is a long one but there is more than enough ballet expertise featured to keep audiences entertained throughout the show.

Sir Peter Wright’s The Sleeping Beauty

Sir Peter Wright’s production of The Sleeping Beauty is directed by Carlos Acosta alongside Music Director Koen Kessels and Designer Philip Prowse. For both ballet purists and first-time tourists, The Sleeping Beauty is a wonderful performance of a classic ballet.

The Sleeping Beauty at the Lowry tickets

The Sleeping Beauty is currently showing at The Lowry with its final showing on Saturday 9th March.

You can get tickets by clicking here