The Guardian: Queen Victoria – the ballet: ‘You think you know her. It turned out I didn’t’
"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery
The Guardian: Queen Victoria – the ballet: ‘You think you know her. It turned out I didn’t’
By Lyndsey Winship
Queen Victoria is falling into the arms of John Brown. He rocks her as if a child, her body heavy with grief, before she steps into a stoic arabesque. “What he’s doing is making you strong through your stubbornness,” choreographer Cathy Marston tells dancer Abigail Prudames, playing the mourning queen preparing to face her public after her beloved Albert’s death.
We’re in rehearsals for Victoria, Marston’s latest work for Northern Balletfollowing her acclaimed Jane Eyre in 2016. Marston must be the most accomplished British female choreographer in ballet right now, but she’s spent most of her professional life in Europe, first as a dancer, then for six years as director of Bern Ballett. Freelance since 2013, Marston still lives in Switzerland with her Australian husband and two young children, but she’s about to have a flurry of work on stage in the UK. There’s another outing for the award-winning The Suit, made for Ballet Black, and then San Francisco Ballet dancing Snowblind, based on Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome. In June, Jane Eyre will have its US debut at the Met in New York courtesy of American Ballet Theatre. “That’s a huge deal, it’s terrifying,” she says.
Read the full article in The Guardian.
Andrea Mohin/The New York Times
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