Leading dance theatre company balletLORENT’s emotional take on the classic fairytale, Rumpelstiltskin, performed this October at Northern Stage Newcastle, has been captured for screen, and the film will be released online in time for Christmas family viewing this December.
balletLORENT’s Rumpelstiltskin is the last of the company’s trilogy of Brothers Grimm fairytales, following the award winning and critically acclaimed productions of Rapunzel and Snow White, and was filmed live with support from digital commissioning body The Space.
The dark tale, retold by Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy (Whitbread, T.S Eliot and Pinter Prize winner), and narrated by Ben Crompton, celebrates the underdog, the outcast, in a tale of a man’s desperate longing for love and belonging, brought to live in a rural world of a shepherd, his flock of sheep and his beautiful daughter.
With a cast of twenty-four dancers in extraordinary costumes designed by the Emmy award winning Michele Clapton, this new take on a classic fairytale explores themes of love, obsession, childhood, grief and reconciliation. The 80-minute film is packed with beautiful imagery of gold, straw, sheep and sunsets over landscape and a stunning score of music, by the BAFTA nominated cinematic composer Murray Gold.
The Rumpelstiltskin stage show was directed and choreographed by balletLORENT founder and artistic director Liv Lorent, and the screen version is directed by Jonathan Haswell (The Royal Opera: The Tales of Hoffmann, Don Giovanni).
Rumpelstiltskin is performed by eight of balletLORENT’s core dancers and two apprentices from London Contemporary Dance School who have been central to the choreographic development of the fairytales, with an age range of 22-53 years. The professional ensemble is also joined by a cast of local children, aged 4-9 years old, found through creative workshops in six Newcastle primary schools, and older people (68+) who have come from a Knit and Natter community group in Benwell, Newcastle.
balletLORENT Brothers Grimm trilogy has consistently adopted this trailblazing approach to age in casting, starting with the production of Rapunzel in 2012. The company’s inclusive approach works with its innovative storytelling, to create ballet theatre that appeals to a wider audience, and the release of the screen version is a further step in the goal of bringing dance to all.
Liv Lorent, Artistic Director and Founder of balletLORENT comments: ‘The children and older people who feature in our production of Rumpelstiltskin add an authenticity to the fairytale world we are creating. The wide age span - from 4-79 - of these guest performers comes closer to the reality of the communities we all inhabit.
‘The children bring their own dynamic physicality, and the older cast are all dexterous knitters. All of the community cast from the East and West Ends of Newcastle upon Tyne have shared their creativity with us with great generosity, and have enhanced our work with their individuality. Our guest cast can tell stories of humanity with a deeper truth, and they offer the impressions of what our bodies once were, and what they may become.’
Fiona Morris, Chief Executive and Creative Director of The Space, said: “The Space is delighted to be working with balletLORENT, a highly creative dance company, known for inclusive productions that appeal to all ages and backgrounds. This heart-warming new show now has life outside of its recent run and can be seen by a range of new audiences.”
Rumpelstiltskin, scenario writer Carol Ann Duffy, (Poet Laureate) ‘It’s a joy and a thrill to be collaborating once again with Liv Lorent and her creative team and to be bringing to life another seminal fairytale to family audiences who love dance or who have yet to discover it.
Rumpelstiltskin reunites a team of world renowned collaborators, with a stirring score from five time BAFTA nominated composer Murray Gold (Dr Who) and sumptuous costume design from BAFTA and Emmy Award winning Michele Clapton, responsible for the memorable costumes in Game of Thrones and Netflix original series The Crown.
The team also includes set designer Phil Eddolls (joint TMA award winner for Improbable’s The Hanging Man) and OBIE and Outer Critics Circle award-winning lighting designer Malcolm Rippeth.
The stage version was co-produced by Northern Stage and commissioned by Sadler’s Wells.
Rumpelstiltskin Tour
The stage version of Rumpelstiltskin will tour to middle and large scale venues across the UK throughout the Spring and Autumn 2018. More information about the tour can be found at www.balletlorent.com
Tickets on sale through Amazon Tickets. @AmazonTheatreUK
24th March Pitlochry Festival Theatre 30th - 31st March Sadler’s Wells, London 6th – 7th April Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
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