Show about lover boy is lacking in thrills

Photo: Caroline Holden

NORTHERN Ballet dancers in Casanova.

CASANOVA

Lowry, to Saturday

NORTHERN Ballet has for some years specialised in programmatic ballets based on icons of modern culture, from Dracula to Peter Pan and Hamlet to The Great Gatsby, with general success.

On the face of it, a work based on the life of Casanova - the original good time boy, the most lascivious writer of the 18th Century - should be a sure-fire sensual winner for the most sensual of modern art forms.

But somewhere along the line the company seems to have forgotten this. Kenneth Tindall's Casanova - his first full-length ballet - is frankly not half as exciting, or indeed sexy, as it might have been, lacking thrills, lacking energy and packed with plot no one but a Casanova scholar might want.

Based on a recent biography of the 18th century rake by Ian Kelly - which attempted to show Casanova was an "Enlightenment philosopher" - the ballet's plot description contains the memorable line ..."He (Casanova), must rush off after Voltaire, to whom he confidently explains his theory of cubic geometry..." Does it really need me to point out a) we haven't the faintest interest in this, and b) it stretches the scope of ballet mime well beyond its limit?

Filling the two acts with frills such as this mires the spirit of the Italian Hedonist - who really was a very smart man who thought a lot about the scientific and natural world around him - and makes him seem a little dull at times, even though Tindall manages to provide a trio of pas de deux for his leading man (Guiliano Contadini) and various lovers that reveal the sensual heart of the leading character and almost make this rather sexless evening worthwhile.

One thing that isn't in doubt is the class of the supporting work. Though the score (by Kerry Muzzey) is a little lightweight at times, it generally fits the bill and helps to set off the stunningly effective set and costumes by Christopher Oram and lighting by Alistair West.

The sets are evocatively-lit gilded columns and magnificent tarnished windows while the costumes scream Venetian ball, generously giving the female members of the audience a good view of bare chests.

It's a shame that on balance the whole doesn't live up to the sum of its cubic geometry.