13 May 2015. Woolf Works at the ROH

This new work by Wayne McGregor consists of three acts, each inspired by a work of Virginia Woolf. Aside from that common denominator, the three acts were essentially stand alones.

The first act, 'I now, I then' is based on Mrs Dalloway and the title gives the gist of it - a woman looking back to her youth and the man and woman to whom she was attracted. Now enjoying a bourgeois safe life, the older woman was danced brilliantly by Alessandra Ferri, incredibly in her fifties. The £7 progamme was not particularly informative and during the interval I looked for a synopsis of this and the other two Woolf work on wikipedia.

The second act, 'Becomings' was inspired by Orlando. It was the most brash of the the three with a spectacular light show by Lucy Carter that included training lasers onto the tiers of the auditorium. Unfortunately, I did not quite get on with the accompanying music by Max Richter that switched from recorded to played by the orchestra. With echoes of Philip Glass and Mike Nyman, I wondered more than once what those two would have done with the commission. The dancing was superb, precise and spectacular, including performances by Natalia Osipova, Edward Watson and Steven McRae. The story itself can only be described as weird about someone who changes gender and travels through time meeting their literary heroes. Apparently it was a tribute to Vita Sackville-West. It was definitely helpful to have known this before seeing it.

The third act, 'Tuesday' from The Waves, was, for me, the most beautiful involving somewhat more abstract dance in slow motion. Unfortunately, it was somewhat spoilt when about half way through a person in the row behind was sick which created quite a commotion and pong. I was unimpressed that the ROH did not offer any means of facilitating a chance to return another night - The run was far from sold out and it would have been a good gesture.

The dancing of Tuesday brought back Alessandra Ferri as well as the stars of Becomings. They danced the parts of the characters whose stories comprise the soliloquies of the book - or at least I suppose that's what they did. It was a complicated idea which did not have my full attention!

The triptych has received mixed reviews ranging from the enthusiasm of the Guardian to the criticism of the Telegraph. Overall, I thought the dancing and lighting were spectacular; the music did not quite gel for me even though it is my genre; and the choreography did not consistently move or engage me.