Review – The Firebird with My Brilliant Career – Royal New Zealand Ballet

Review – The Firebird with My Brilliant Career – Royal New Zealand Ballet

St James Theatre
Wellington
30 April 2025
Conductor: Hamish McKeich, Orchestra Wellington

Reviewed by Brigitte Knight

The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s double bill of The Firebird with My Brilliant Career presents two one-act narrative contemporary ballets, both innovative and thoughtful, yet refreshingly contrasting in style. Braving a particularly stormy night in the capital, the appreciative opening night audience are treated to two different choreographic voices and approaches to storytelling. Performed with clarity and cohesion by the artists of the Royal New Zealand Ballet The Firebird with My Brilliant Career is enhanced by live music from Orchestra Wellington conducted by Hamish McKeich.

MY BRILLIANT CAREER

Choreography: Cathy Marston
Dramaturgy: Edward Kemp
Staging: Jenny Tattersall
Music: Matthew Hindson
Set & Costume Design: David Fleischer
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson

My Brilliant Career by Cathy Marston. Katherine Minor & Jennifer Ulloa. Photo: Stephen A'Court

Opening the programme is My Brilliant Career, created on Queensland Ballet in 2023 by internationally renowned choreographer Cathy Marston. The first Marston work to be presented in Aotearoa, My Brilliant Career exemplifies the choreographer’s skill in interpreting literary works through dance, and centering the unlikely heroines and women in narratives that are still relevant today. The ballet was created to an intriguing original score by composer Matthew Hindson and developed alongside dramaturg Edward Kemp. Marston’s approach to building dance works in partnership with composition and dramaturgy results in a cohesively layered ballet with My Brilliant Career; movement motifs are complemented by varied musical influences and leitmotifs, character arcs are considered and interwoven with choreography.

Based on the 1901 Miles Franklin novel set in 1890s rural Australia, My Brilliant Career focuses on the essence of the original story without delving into the latter intricacies of the plot. The lead character Sybylla is a dual role danced by soloist Katherine Minor (Syb) and company artist Jennifer Ulloa (Bylla) embodying two sides of the young woman’s personality as she grapples with the constrictions of her life and imagines limitless future horizons. This device is brilliant from conception to realization, blending intricate and sophisticated choreographic detail that perpetually avoids the predictable, and affords the dancers rich opportunities to demonstrate their technical and emotional ranges. Minor and Ulloa are thoughtfully cast, achieving cohesion and contrast, driving the narrative with swift and dynamic delivery, and Ulloa captivates with her strongest and most refined performance for the company to date.

Soloist Jemima Scott as Sybylla’s mother and artist Gretchen Steimle her grandmother are similarly adept at embodying character with total physicality and effective expression. Guest principal Victor Estévez as Harry Beecham, soloist Shaun James Kelly as Uncle JJ, and principal Laurynas Vėjalis as Frank, the jackeroo all give expressively animated and technically assured performances, and amongst the ensemble Tessa Karle and Rose Xu are especially engaging. Marston’s choreography is detailed and intelligent, and I appreciate the choice to use pointe to delineate sophistication and status within the movement language of the ballet.

My Brilliant Career is presented with a modern, minimalist set (designed by David Fleischer) and allows the lighting (designed by Paul Jackson) to add depth and feeling to the setting. A balance is struck between the simplicity of the design and the density of the movement material, resulting in a ballet that is interesting but never bombastic. For audience unfamiliar with the novel the plot of My Brilliant Career is clearly narrated, however, the male characters are somewhat more challenging to follow and differentiate. Stylistically and setting-wise the ballet sits firmly within the European tradition, reflecting a monocultural perspective of Australian culture typical of the period portrayed.

THE FIREBIRD

Choreography: Loughlan Prior
Design: Tracy Grant Lord
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Projections: POW Studios
Lighting Design: Jon Buswell

Following the intermission Royal New Zealand Ballet Choreographer in Residence Loughlan Prior’s modern reimagining of The Firebird returns for the first time since its commission in 2021. The Firebird was first performed by Sergei Diaghilev’s cutting edge and contemporary Ballet Russes in 1910, and Prior considers new ways to adapt the classic tale and ensure his ballet is relevant and interesting for audiences of all ages. Prior consistently considers the narratives of women characters in his works, giving them status and agency, and he is especially adept at creating seamless links between the escapism of ballet and wider contemporary issues. The Firebird is a fine example of the choreographer's values and approach to dance making; at the heart of the production, Prior’s Firebird is both a symbol of the natural world and an elemental deity, combining ecology and mythology to express the urgency of climate breakdown tempered with that beacon of human emotion – hope.

In The Firebird the Royal New Zealand Ballet has a fully-realised production; the comprehensive world-building and cohesive, holistic approach of a creative team Prior (choreography), Tracy Grant Lord (design), and Jon Buswell (lighting design) who clearly speak the same theatrical language. Fully integrated projection by POW Studios, a multi-layered set design, effective costumes, and Stravinsky’s dynamic and emotive score realised with nuance and power by McKeich and Orchestra Wellington are combined to create an apocalyptic wasteland against which the legendary Firebird can soar. Being seated in the third row meant that unfortunately the floor projections were not visible; for optimum viewing and appreciation of the big picture of The Firebird premium seats (not an option for everyone) are in the centre of the Dress Circle.

One of many strengths of having a choreographer restage a ballet is the opportunity for clarification and change, ensuring the ballet is a living work of art. Subtle but effective developments from the 2021 production include strengthened ensemble work lending The Scavengers and The Wastelanders enhanced presence and gravitas, refined choreography for The Firebird (danced on opening night by principal Ana Gallardo Lobaina), and increased character development of antagonists The Burnt Mask (principal Branden Reiners) and Elizaveta (soloist Kirby Selchow). In the title role of The Firebird (which Prior choreographed on her) Lobaina delivers what may very well be a defining performance in her career. Combining the best of her technical prowess, dramatic strength, and engaging animalistic power Lobaina holds nothing back, fearlessly attacking the classical and contemporary elements of her character’s idiomatic movement vocabulary, evocative pointe work, and creative partnering connections.

Lobaina in The Firebird embodies all of our hope and our fury combined, and there are audible gasps from the audience as she immolates, resurrects, and draws in the men of The Inferno to extend herself to superhuman reach. Principal Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson creates a thoughtful and intelligent Arrow, partnering with sensitivity and bringing depth to the role. Kadow is well cast the determined and caring Neve, Reiners embodies the brutish and exploitative Burnt Mask with plausibility and strength, and Selchow’s emboldened and powerfully detailed performance as the cunning and ruthlessly deceptive Elizaveta is crucial for the tension in The Firebird’s narrative arc.

The Firebird is applauded rapturously on opening night, and deservedly so. Prior builds the emotionally resonant and vibrant ballet to a dramatic, pulsating finale, and (without giving a spoiler) the end is quite simply breathtaking.

Photos: Stephen A'Court