Victoria ballet. Choreographed and directed by Cathy Marston. Music by Philip Feeney with additional orchestration by John Longstaff. Performed and recorded 2019 at the Northern Ballet. Stars Abigail Prudames (Victoria), Joseph Taylor (Albert), Pippa Moore (Older Princess Beatrice), Miki Akuta (Young Princess Beatrice), Mlindi Kulashe (John Brown), Sean Bates (Liko), Filipo di Vilio (Benjamin Disraeli), Riku Ito (Lord Melbourne), Gavin McCaig (William Gladstone & Uncle Leopold), Minju Kang (Victoire), and Matthew Topliss (Conroy). Jonathan Lo conducts the Northern Ballet Sinfonia. Set and costume design by Steffen Aarfing; lighting design by Alastair West; dramaturgy and scenario by Uzma Hameed. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+
The Northern Ballet, located in Leeds, England, primarily focuses on narrative works; they bill themselves as the world’s leading company of actors who can dance ballet. NB brought us our 1984 title. It’s a relatively small company where dancers are used to handling multiple roles in a show. As we have noted before (see Chaplin) it’s daunting to do a biography in dance. It’s hard to express intellectual or political issues in bodily motion, nor can a ballet easily convey the details of specific facts that make up a biography. Ballet can well convey situations, emotions, and personalities. So a dance biography of someone like Victoria, who lived long in an exciting time, must focus on a broad theme.
Why was Victoria so popular? Why are the days of her life still called the Victorian era and why are buildings and places named for her all over the world? Even though she was personally homely and spoke English with a German accent, she had a knack for expressing the great love she bore for the peoples of her country and empire, her husband, her 9 children (especially her youngest daughter Beatrice), and her friends (especially one John Brown). So the theme of this ballet is an homage to that love.
Victoria was popular with the people because they could relate to her. Barely 5 feet tall and stout, she didn’t look noble or glamorous. (She also did not look like a star ballerina.) She was free of prejudice about people because of their religion, race, or social class. She had a reputation for high moral character and was conscientious. Finally, she was smart and industrious. Most every day she wrote extensively in her diary, which filled 122 volumes.
In our first screenshot below we see Victoria (Abigale Prudames) seated discussing her diaries with her youngest daughter Beatrice (Pippa Moore), who has long been her closest confidant. This mother and daughter look alike as portrayed by these senior dancers. Here’s how you can tell them apart: Victoria is usually dressed in mourning black with lots of lace and usually plants her feet wide apart ready to come out swinging. Beatrice is dressed more simply and primly keeps her feet together or crossed. In the image below, Victoria is near death and is turning the diaries over to Beatrice to preserve for posterity:
The death of Victoria:
The rest of the ballet is seen through the mind of Beatrice as she reads the diaries in two tranches. In the first tranche (Act 1) Beatrice remembers her own life with her mother. In the second tranche (Act 2), Beatrice learns a great deal about Victoria before Beatrice came along as child number 9. You have to stay alert to make sense of the many characters and events that tumble through Beatrice’s memory. If you are not already a fan of British history, prepare to do some homework!
In the next screenshot below, the girl in blue is young Beatrice (Miki Akuta). Beatrice was very young at the her father, Prince Albert. She remembers him only by the innumerable statutes and pictures of him she sees everywhere. All of Beatrice’s life, her mother remained in mourning. While watching this ballet, you must get used to seeing the old Beatrice in the picture remembering, often holding a diary :
In the next view below, you can identify Victoria’s 9 offspring by the blue sashes. None of Beatrice’s siblings play a distinct role here nor are they credited in the keepcase information. But you can imagine how busy their royal activities and intrigues kept Victoria over the years:
Victoria was overly possessive of Beatrice after Albert’s early death. When Beatrice fell in love with the dashing Army officer Liko (Sean Bates), Victoria first opposed her marriage. But eventually Beatrice married Liko wearing Victoria’s own wedding veil:
There was always fighting going on somewhere in the Empire, and Liko went to war. Next below Beatrice receives his remains—a tunic with a black ribbon:
Now Victoria and Beatrice are both widows in mourning. After Liko’s death, Beatrice devoted herself to taking care of Victoria. She never remarried and had no child. The two women became ever closer until Victoria’s death:
After Beatrice read Victoria’s later diaries, she began to study the older diaries (the second tranche in Act 2). Victoria had a difficult childhood full of drama as various parties, anticipating that Victoria would probably become Queen, sought to worm their way into the picture in a grasp for future influence, especially if Victoria became Queen while still legally a child. But when Victoria turned 18, she was ready to make her own way. Fate made her Queen about a month later. You might be puzzled by what is going on in the image below. This is the Coronation of Victoria as Queen. The Northern Ballet built a nice set for this production, but they don’t believe in lots of elaborate props or videos. True actors will always find a way, and the hands become a crown. (Yes, that’s Sean Bates on the right, but he’s playing a different role now from Liko.)
Pop quiz: what’s happening in the screenshot below? Can you figure it out?
Answer: The scene above is the Parliament of Great Britain in session, and the new Queen (blue sash) in dealing with her ministers. The gent in the green jacket is Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (Filipo di Vilio). The gent in the light brown jacket is the politician William Gladstone (Gavin McCaig). The image below is slightly easier to figure out: Disraeli is having Victoria named as Empress of India. If you flunked this test, don’t feel bad. It would take a real expert in British history to follow all this cold in real time!
Now back to love. Victoria was barely an adult when she became Queen. She was still surrounded by many racing to gain power by influencing her. The older men, such as Lord Melbourne (Riku Ito), wanted to be a father figure. The younger men thought of wooing to be her lover or husband. Albert won the race. He had his own agenda, but I think he is credited by history as being an honorable man and faithful husband. Victoria refused Albert’s attentions when she was just a Princess. But when she became Queen, she saw that he waited for her. She warmed up and in time came to love Albert intensely:
Victoria’s wrote in her diary a famous description of her wedding night:
Victoria dreaded the inconveniences of pregnancy and childbirth, but it seems she and Albert stuck a deal. He would take the lead in representing the royal class in political matters, and she would become a Queen Mother. Who would have guessed that she would eventually have 9 children with Albert? She loved her husband and her country, and she did more than her part in seeing it peopled:
The nine children married into royal houses all over Europe. Albert intended for this to reduce the likelihood of war in Europe. Alas, things didn’t work out that way:
Next pop quiz: What are all these people below in red bottoms doing? (A) It’s a revolt in India, (B) They are ushers at the Royal Opera, (C) These are inmates at an insane asylum, (D) It’s an industrial exposition, or (E) They are agitating for women’s voting rights?
Answer to quiz above: This is the NB presentation of The Great Exhibition of 1851 organized by Prince Albert and Henry Cole (the inventor of the Christmas Card). The dancers move in jerky, mechanical ways suggesting a factory making some kind of wonderful product. Alas, Prince Albert’s efforts to advance British prosperity throughout the Empire and peace throughout the world took a strange toll on him—he had a breakdown and died at age 42 when, as we saw earlier, Beatrice was only an infant!
This leads us to the third great love of Victoria’s life (after her country and her family): John Brown, a commoner from Scotland who worked as a servant and body guard for the royal family. One of the curious things about Victoria’s life was that there were 8 attempts by lone gunmen to assassinate her—all with pistols at close range. Every time someone tried to kill her, Victoria became more popular with the public. The NB show has John Brown taking a bullet for Victoria. I think this is pure fiction. But it is true that Brown on one occasion saw a man near Victoria with a gun and immediately risked his life to take the would-be assassin down. Victoria loved Brown for his sterling character and and attractive demeanor, and he was also a hero to her. Below we see Brown wounded on the ground being comforted by Victoria:
After Albert’s death, Victoria went into a depression and everyone feared she might become a recluse. Prime Minister Disraeli needed for her to be more active in governing the country. John Brown gets credit for being the only one who could convince Victoria to step again into the a public light. In the image below, Brown stands proudly below while Victoria waves, for the first time after Albert’s death, to the people outside Buckingham Palace. (The man standing next to her would be Victoria’s elder son who later became King Edward II):
Brown was a commoner and servant. The royals and government figures alike were jealous of his special relationship to the Queen. Rumors of improprieties abounded and are being examined by historians to this day. Was there any intimacy between the Queen and Brown? Only one thing can be sure. Beatrice didn’t just organize her mother's diaries. Over a period of 35 years, she completely edited them, rewrote them in her own words, and burned the originals. If there was any whiff of impropriety with John Brown in the diaries, they went up in smoke:
Victoria awarded medals of honor to Brown, raised statutes of him, and was buried with his picture and artifacts that belonged to him. In the years to come, royal successors to Victoria (especially her son King Edward II) eradicated everything about Brown that they could. This they did because he was a commoner—but Victoria’s love for him stays written in the stars. Next below is a photograph of Brown in full regalia:
What should we make of this ambitious ballet? Don’t try to watch this cold unless you are an expert in British history. This review gives you a general framework for enjoying the work, but there are many characters and events hanging on this frame that likely will baffle and discourage you if you don’t prepare. One help would be to read the 43 Chapter Titles. These are listed as an Extra feature on the disc, but they are not given in the keepcase booklet! So for your convenience, I’ve attached an Exhibit with all the chapters for you to print out. Following the show with these chapter names can help a lot.
The original music is terrific, especially the romantic piano music used in the love scenes between Victoria and Albert. SQ is state of the art for 48kH24. The sets, costumes, props, and lighting are fine. PQ is excellent.
Due to the caveats discussed, I think this is at best a B title for the general audience. Because the book and choreography are so well put together, I’ll add a +. British subjects or others who are interested in British history could consider this an A title. Because I’m giving this a B, I’m not going to do a Wonk Worksheet to analyze video content. I’m pretty sure the video content here is not strong enough to bump the grade up, nor would I want to downgrade if there is some DVDitis in the file.
I hope you enjoyed this review about the loves of Queen Victoria. Don’t forget to check the list of Chapter Titles in the Appendix below!
Here’s a trailer from Northern Ballet:
Appendix
Click here for List of Chapters
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