LA SYLPHIDE
DIRECTOR: Elizabeth Triegaardt
CAST: Members of Cape Town City Ballet with guest artist Leanne Voysey
CHOREOGRAPHY: August Bournonville
VENUE: Maynardville Open Air Theatre
UNTIL: February 22
RATING: ****
First staged in 1832, La Sylphide is a ballet of impressive endurance, its continuing popularity no doubt explained by its blend of romance, fantasy and visual appeal together with an element of morality (it illustrates none too subtly that age-old lesson that unkindness and arrogance have consequences).
Cape Town City Ballet’s production under the stars at Maynardville could hardly have a more appropriate setting, as the second act of this two-act work is set in a forest; moreover at the climax of the action, the wind rose audibly on opening night to enhance the surreal drama depicted on stage.
Laura Bosenberg, as the eponymous sylph, is ideally cast in this role: from her first entry to entice and seduce the affianced James just before his wedding, she combines bewitching elusiveness with gossamer-light dancing. Occasional hints at frail health are instantly belied by her agility as she sweeps across the stage in playful interaction with the bemused James, every inch a fée creature.
As usual, Thomas Thorne provides excellent partnership for Bosenberg, as well as elegant solo performance with notable elevation. Drama-wise, his anti-heroic obduracy towards the elderly witch Madge inspires precisely the reaction needed to alienate audience sympathy at an early stage of the action.
Fahiem Bardien’s lighting of individual dancers serves the production well, particularly the execution of the leads.
Secondary characters shine for the strength of their personality and the interpretation they bring to their roles. Ivan Boonzaaier, as James’s rival Gurn, makes the most of a part not normally memorable outside the context of the plot, offering both humour and robust dancing as a counterfoil for the principal dancers.
Jane Fidler injects her habitual warmth into the persona of Effie, James’s jilted fiancée, and Mervyn Williams steals the show as Madge despite – or because of – an implausible costume and wig. His appearances may be brief, but they are arresting, especially at the end when one feels the witch’s retribution may be just a little extreme.
No ballet blanc would be complete without the traditional tableau of white-draped figures against sylvan darkness, and act two brings this eye-pleaser in the form of a sizeable ensemble of sylphs in which CTCB’s corps muster collective grace, with proficient solos from the trio of Kim Vieira, Rosamund Ford and Claire Spector.
The familiar choreographic style of Bournonville, understated music of Lovenskjold, and beauty of Maynardville all work their magic to reward lovers of classical ballet in this production.