Birmingham Royal Ballet is to take a mixed programme, Fire and Fury, two ballets “fuelled by power and politics”, to three venues in October 2018.
In an all-male The King Dances, choreographer David Bintley casts a modern eye back to the very beginnings of ballet, a time when men were the kings of dance. When young King Louis XIV of France danced the role of the Sun God in a spectacular court entertainment, he earned himself the soubriquet The Sun King. However, beneath the veneer of the glittering, fashionable court lies a desperate, nightmarish struggle for power between the young king and his mentor, Count Mazarin.
Music is by Stephen Montague, designs by Katrina Lindsay and lighting by Peter Mumford.
Choreographer Juanjo Arqués’s Ignite was commissioned as part of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s pioneering Ballet Now talent development programme. It features new designs from Tatyana Van Walsum and a score from Kate Whitley. Inspired by Turner’s painting “The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons”, Ignite “translates vibrant colour into atmospheric choreography, creating a symbolic narrative unique to each audience member”.
Music is by Kate Whitley, designs by Tatyana Van Walsum, lighting by Bert Dalhuysen and Fabienne Vegt is the dramaturg.
Fire and Fury can be seen at Birmingham Hippodrome from Wednesday 3 until Saturday 6 October, Theatre Royal Plymouth on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 October and London’s Sadler’s Wells on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 October.