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Manon, London Coliseum, review: English National Ballet production features blazing performance from Alina Cojocaru

She lives in the moment, the character’s conflicting wants playing out through her ardent dancing as much as her expressive face

Thursday 17 January 2019 12:32 GMT
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English National Ballet’s Manon is an urgent tragedy, a passionate tale of a life at the precarious edges. It’s crowned by Alina Cojocaru’s blazing performance in the title role.

Created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1974, Manon was originally designed by Nicholas Georgiadis in opulent 18th-century style. It underlined the extremes of poverty and decadence as the heroine goes from life as a rich courtesan to her death as a transported convict. This production, designed by Mia Stensgaard for the Royal Danish Ballet, is lighter and more stylised – tulle instead of brocade.

It recalls the lighter fabrics and sharp colours of an MGM fantasy ballet, more An American in Paris than Hogarth. Airy and slightly acid, it leaves it to the dancers to fill in the murky shadows of MacMillan’s corrupt society – and English National Ballet do that with gusto. Stensgaard’s version is also much easier to tour. UK audiences outside London have rarely been given the chance to see Manon; this production has put that right, with performances that do the ballet full justice.

Cojocaru is a magnificent Manon. She lives in the moment, the character’s conflicting wants playing out through her ardent dancing as much as her expressive face. Falling in love with Joseph Caley’s innocent Des Grieux, she’ll switch from eager attack to swoops of luscious movement, pushed by her emotions or abandoning herself to them.

When James Streeter’s rich Monsieur GM offers her furs, she can’t resist trying them on. As the diamond necklace follows, Cojocaru’s hint of a shiver suggests that she knows it’s a gilded, irresistible trap. It’s a decision that this Manon makes with her eyes open, giving up love from the terror of being poor.

In the brothel scene, she moves from partner to partner, carried by the ebb and flow of Massenet’s pretty music. The luxuriant stretch of her movement shows her enjoying her own sexual power. She’s shaken by a glimpse of Des Grieux, but hastily puts her public smile back on. At her peak of fame, Manon’s survival still depends on performance. She’s desperate and broken in her final scenes, trying to escape or to catch up with what she’s lost.

Caley dances with smooth power and a boyish sense of naivety. He and Cojocaru dance the athletic, erotic choreography with total conviction and security. Jeffrey Cirio brings laser-sharp footwork and amoral charisma to Lescaut, Manon’s pimping brother. As his mistress, Katja Khaniukova is bold and alert, while Streeter is a sinister Monsieur GM.

Until 20 January. Box office 020 7845 9300

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