World premiere Choreography, co-direction and treatment Helen Pickett Direction and treatment James Bonas Music Peter Salem Sets and costumes Luís Carvalho Musical accompaniment Dutch Ballet Orchestra conducted by Koen Kessels The American theatre and film choreographer, Helen Pickett, is renowned as ‘one of the few prominent women in contemporary ballet’. For her Dutch debut, she collaborates with director James Bonas and composer Peter Salem to delve into the mind of the ruthless Lady Macbeth. In this new, full-length production, Pickett and Bonas reveal the unseen, hidden scenes from Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Macbeth, seen through the eyes of Lady Macbeth, one of the most captivating ‘creations’ of the sixteenth-century playwright. As a spectator, we feel her fears and desires, her unbridled lust for power, the pinnacle of this power and, in the end, her descent into deep despair. Glamour and decline In her very personal, powerful dance idiom, Pickett creates a fascinating world, in which she and Bonas zoom in on themes like control, glamour, love, reality and illusion, and the disintegration of someone’s mind when that world collapses. As in previous productions, they are working with the composer Peter Salem, who previously proved himself a fantastic storyteller with Dutch National Ballet, in his music for Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Frida. Unique talent Pickett danced with William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt for eleven years and performed for five years with the Wooster Group in New York, before becoming a high-profile choreographer. Her recent successes include Emma Bovary (based on Gustave Flaubert’s classic Madame Bovary), Camino Real (based on Tennessee Williams’ play) and The Crucible, inspired by the play in which Arthur Miller uses a seventeenth-century witchunt as a metaphor for the American witch-hunt on the communists in the 1950’s. Ted Brandsen remarks, “This production, for Scottish Ballet, really grabbed me by the throat. The ability to translate such a ‘linguistic’ piece into such an impressive and energetic dance production shows unique talent.” Lady Macbeth Delving into the mind of one of Shakespeare’s most fascinating creations “Pickett is a contemporary ballet choreographer of substance, with deep convictions, an effervescent sense of humour and a wide-ranging intellect” Dance International Premiere 5/4/2025 Subsequent performances: 6*, 9, 11, 12, 13*, 15, 18, 20*, 22 April 2025 | Curtain-up: 20:15 / *14:00 | Ticket sales start on: 22 August 2024 | Price Category: B | Location: Main Stage, Dutch National Opera & Ballet 89
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