Akram Khan's reimagining of Giselle for English National Ballet is a thought-provoking, powerful tale of innocence and betrayal - delving into the redemptive power of love.
As the beautifully haunting production returns to Manchester for a short stint this weekend, following sold-out shows in New York and Paris last year, it's impossible to take your eyes off what amounts to such a gripping piece of theatre.
Giselle reflects thematic concerns of 19th century Romanticism, specifically the idealization of peasant life and the intersection of reality and the supernatural.
As the curtain rises to reveal a community of migrant garment factory workers, dispossessed of their jobs by the factory's closure, each movement is marked by terror and anxiety. Khan's choreography creates a callous environment characterised by fear, where hostility and heartlessness rule the human relationships.
In Act II we are met by the Wilis, a sisterhood of women who were victims not of a lover's betrayal but of the voracity and negligence of factory owners. These are the women who entered the factory and never returned, victims of industrial accidents.
The Wilis traversed the stage in exquisite harmony, armed with their bamboo canes which seemed to symbolise the handlooms of the pre-industrial era before becoming lethal weapons to spear Hilarion, an Outcast who is in love with Giselle.
Erina Takahashi's performance as Giselle was stunning, each compelling sequence filled with such elegance and agonising emotion. Her technique was impeccable and I couldn't help but be drawn to her sheer passion and the fluidity of her movements throughout the entirety of the show.
Tim Yip's costumes were beautifully interpreted and his set design consists of a towering wall which separated the garment factory workers from their hopes of livelihood and security; the simplicity of the backdrop, engraved with the poignant handprints of the workers, had me in complete and utter awe. As we watch Giselle falling in love with the wealthy Albrecht, we are constantly reminded that the forbidding wall stands as a divide between the two distinct realms of the couple's lives and all that they know.
Giselle is gracing The Palace Theatre for three nights only - with its final performance tomorrow evening, October 21.
