Coppélia review: A sharp, smart take on a classic from Scottish Ballet

The Edinburgh Festival hit swaps clockwork dolls for artificial intelligence

The cast of ‘Coppélia' (Andy Ross)

Scottish Ballet’s sharp, smart Coppélia swaps clockwork dolls for artificial intelligence. Created in 2022, and already a hit at the Edinburgh Festival, Morgann Runacre-Temple and Jessica Wright’s production is a punchy update of the 19th-century ballet classic. From multimedia playfulness to robot clubbing, Scottish Ballet dance it with glee.

Runacre-Temple and Wright are an established partnership of direction and choreography, with a history of film as well as stage work. In Coppélia, dancer Rimbaud Patron is also an onstage cameraman, filming interactions or revealing what’s happening offstage. Film is projected onto screens, but refuses to stay there: the images spill right across Bengt Gomér’s spare, industrial set.

Unruly technology is a central theme in Coppélias old and new. The 19th-century Swanilda crept into a toymaker’s workshop, disguising herself as a doll that then seemed to come to life. Here, Constance Devernay is an investigative journalist pursuing a tech bro version of Doctor Coppélius, pulling her boyfriend Franz along to the launch of his Coppélia technology.