The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake offers much to admire (2025)

Almost six years since it’s debut, Liam Scarlett’s production of Swan Lake has started its fourth season at the Royal Opera House, where it will dominate the repertoire with eleven casts sharing 30 performances until the end of June. Amongst this veritable feast of dancers cast as Siegfried and Odette/Odile, the lead pairing was Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Nuñez who reprised their opening night from 2018 (and 2020). They are the safest of bets to further seduce an already adoring audience with their explosive virtuosity and unhurried artistry.

Muntagirov danced with great dignity, mixing the cool detachment of his isolated palace life as exposed in the lyrical act one soliloquy, with flawless virtuosity as particularly exemplified in his third act sequence of triple double-double tours, which I haven't seen anyone else perform with the same degree of apparent effortlessness. And he is the most attentive of partners.

Nuñez is enchanting as Odette, bringing experience and maturity to emphasise the role’s emotional pull. And she returns to be just as enchanting as Odile. She is one of few ballerinas that I feel capable of giving equal significance to the two roles. At one point in the third act pas de deux, she held an unsupported balance en pointe for so long that it provoked an understandable (but nonetheless irritating) burst of sustained applause. Although this pairing is already the stuff of legend (people will be speaking of Nuñez and Muntagirov in 40 years time in the same adulatory terms as they speak of Sibley and Dowell now) this was not a perfect performance because these consummate dancers will be seeking improvement in small matters of detail in terms of musicality and timing. The same criticism is due for the corps de ballet because although the overall imagery was undoubtedly beautiful, I would add spacing to that menu for improvement. One particular quibble is that it is quite difficult to tell at which point Siegfried and Odette fall in love (did it happen offstage?).

There is much to admire in Scarlett’s production uppermost amongst which are John Macfarlane’s gorgeous designs, including the monumental Palace gates on a diagonal; the blurred full moon standing guard over the lakeside; the clever device of Von Rothbart appearing to climb out through the rocky edifice; and the sumptuous, burnished gold and crimson colour palette for the Palace ballroom with its swirling staircase retreating from view and Rubenesque ceiling paintings. Macfarlane’s costumes were equally grand with impressive military uniforms, coordinated costumes and tutus for the princesses and gorgeous, jewel-encrusted gowns for the Queen who is given a grief-stricken cameo to end Act 3, rather in the manner of Lady Capulet’s breakdown at the death of Tybalt.

Another major re-development is to expand upon the role of Von Rothbart, now not just the grotesque sorcerer with his captive bank of swans but also a mysterious adviser to the Queen (another glorious performance by Elizabeth McGorian). The Royal Ballet’s go-to man-of-many-faces, Gary Avis once more excels in a role made for his superlative acting skills. My only costume quibble is that his “mysterious adviser” outfit and long hair make him seem something of a cross between a guitarist from Status Quo and J.K. Rowling’s Professor Snape.

The short prologue explaining Odette’s enchantment is effective as is the aristocratic exclusivity of the non-Swan scenes. There are no villagers at Prince Siegfried’s birthday party, which is entirely populated by champagne-swigging nobility amongst whom the waltz was performed on demi-pointe and the traditional pas de trois was danced by Siegfried’s best friend, Benno (endearingly performed by Luca Acri), accompanying the prince’s younger sisters (Isabella Gasparini and Sae Maeda).

Another clever twist is to turn the possible betrothal of Siegfried into a kind of Eurovision Dance contest with the princess entourages from Spain, Hungary, Italy (surely that should be the Kingdom of Naples, by the way) and Poland competing to win the prince’s hand. I loved the characterisations given to each of the (usually otherwise anonymous) princesses and, for me, Ashley Dean’s haughtiness won the day as her Neapolitan duo (Madison Bailey and Taisuke Nakao) tore up the stage.

There is a tragic ending as Odette sacrifices herself to save Siegfried, leading to a heart-breaking final image as the prince carries her lifeless body from the lake while the spirit of the swan princess hovers above them. The tragedy of this production on stage has been mirrored in contemporaneous personal and international miseries. The second revival coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the 2020 season was halted due to lockdown at which time Scarlett was suspended from his duties at The Royal Ballet. He was subsequently dismissed and died, a year later. As things stand, his Swan Lake is all that remains of an impressive artistic legacy at Covent Garden, which is also a crying shame.

****1