Director Notes

On January 31, 1984, when I was 15, a 15-year-old schoolgirl named Anne Lovett was found bleeding, semi-conscious and fatally weak from exposure. The lifeless body of her six-and-a-half pound new-born baby boy lay near by. She was discovered lying in a grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary, with a statue of the ‘Blessed Mother’ looking down on her. Anne Lovett’s death became a symbol of the clashes taking place in Ireland at that time between old and new, Church and State, the insular and the open-minded, between change and the fear of change. I can remember vividly first hearing of this event, and the memory of it would later form the first part of my inspiration to create a new production based on the romantic ballet Giselle, in which a teenage girl dies. I was also inspired by the romantic ballet, which I had seen many times. I was strongly drawn to the story and to its simple two-act structure, one light and one dark. It was the Slavic legend of the ‘Wilis’ (the ghosts of women who have died the night before their wedding) that inspired the German poet Heinrich Heine to write the poem from which Théophile Gautier took his inspiration to create the libretto for the ballet. Giselle is the central character and heroine and dies at the end of Act One. In Act Two she reappears, and is transformed into one of these spirits. Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre was formed in 1997 when I was 27. Giselle was created in 2003 in a converted hay barn on a dairy farm in County Longford, Ireland. Ten performers lived, trained and created together for eight weeks. Each morning we left our beds early, and at times we worked long into the evening. Longford is in the midlands of Ireland and has traditionally suffered from a lack of investment and from unemployment. It is where my father grew up, like his father and mother before him, and it is where I now live. Coincidentally Anne Lovett was from a town called Granard which is also in Longford. There is no doubt that something of the midlands shaped our Giselle, but it is set in an imagined place somewhere deep within my creative unconscious and I think it could almost be anywhere. In the years preceding the creation of Giselle I had become increasingly frustrated by my attempts to tell conventional stories through the wordless medium of dance. As the choreographer George Balanchine pointed out, ‘it is impossible to say, this is my mother in law, in the language of dance’. I decided that I could not successfully tell the story of Giselle with all its details and quirks in complete silence. Having choreographed ballets in a number of operas for more than six years at that point, my familiarity with song made the introduction of some singing inevitable but not as challenging as the introduction of speech in our work. Of the original cast of 10, eight of whom are with us here in Sydney, English was the first language of only six. I can still remember my excitement on the night of our first preview at the Dublin Theatre Festival in late September 2003. The Dublin run sold out completely and was critically acclaimed, but it was not until two years later that we had another success with Giselle, this time at the Barbican Centre in London. It was another significant moment for me, and it marked the beginning of an important new partnership - this and subsequent success at the Barbican led ultimately to Fabulous Beast being made one of its Artistic Associates. The following year, Giselle was nominated for an Olivier Award in London in the category of ‘Best New Dance Production’, and since then we have performed it at the Festival Dialog Wroclaw in Poland, the New Zealand International Arts Festival and at last year’s Perth International Arts Festival, which was our debut here in Australia. In 2008 we brought it back home to Ireland after five years, for performances at the Galway Arts Festival, where I felt the production had finally grown into itself. I am thrilled that our journey with Giselle has now brought us to Sydney. This production has been a gift to me in many different ways, so it is really a privilege to offer it now to you.

Michael Keegan-Dolan
January 2010

Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre

Described as ‘one of the most daring and highly original dance theatre companies in the world’ (The Times), Fabulous Beast is an international ensemble based in Ireland and led by Irish director and choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan. Recent work includes a critically acclaimed new staging of Igor Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Rite of Spring, a Fabulous Beast co-production with English National Opera, which played to more than 14,000 people at the London Coliseum in November 2009. Fabulous Beast was previously best known for several ground-breaking and controversial productions, delivered in a unique style blending narrative and physical theatre, dance, speech and song and set in the Irish Midlands. These include two Olivier Award-nominated productions Giselle (2003), and The Bull (2005), and also James Son of James (2007), which were co-produced with Dublin Theatre Festival and bite at the Barbican Centre (London), of which Fabulous Beast is an Artistic Associate. Fabulous Beast’s productions prior to Giselle included: Sunday Lunch (1997); Fragile (1999); The Flowerbed (2000); and The Christmas Show (2001). Fabulous Beast has gained wider international recognition in recent years through performances at major cultural festivals around the world. Giselle has been performed at the New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas, USA (2004), the Festival Dialog Wroclaw, Poland (2007), the New Zealand International Arts Festival (2008), Perth International Arts Festival, Australia (2009) and was seen again by Irish audiences at the 2008 Galway Arts Festival. In the Spring of 2008 the Dance Touring Partnership presented an extensive UK tour of James Son of James with support from Arts Council England. The Bull was most recently performed as part of spielzeit’europa at the Berliner Festspiele in November 2008, its London premiere having won Keegan-Dolan the UK Critics’ Circle Award for Best Modern Choreography. Other international engagements in 2010 include performances of Giselle at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre in May. Keegan-Dolan and his company will shortly return to Ireland to begin work on a new production of Petrushka, which will be premiered alongside The Rite of Spring in a Stravinsky double-bill later in the year. Fabulous Beast is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland. International touring is supported by Culture Ireland.

Biographies:

Sophie Charalambous
Design

Sophie Charalambous studied painting and later theatre design on the Motley Theatre Design Course. Set and costume designs include: Class and Corruption, The School, Rye, Charlie and Lola (The Polka Children’s Theatre and now touring the UK and Brazil); Debris by Dennis Kelly (BAC and Touring); Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book, adapted by Jonathan Lloyd (Soho Theatre and touring); The Pied Piper (Opera North Education, touring); and Orange by Alan Harris (Chapter Arts Centre). She has also designed many productions for the British American Drama Academy. Sophie has worked on numerous community arts projects and most recently created the procession for the Day of the Dead event at The British Museum. Other projects include artworks for the Thames Festival Night-time Carnival and Royal Festival Hall. Sophie has worked as Artist in Residence in several schools and has run many workshops in art and design for young people and adults. From 2003-2007 she co-ran the Haringey Children’s Musical Theatre Company, writing and performing new musical theatre with local children in Tottenham. As well as working collaboratively, Sophie continues to create and exhibit her own artwork.

Michael Keegan-Dolan
Director / Choreographer

Born in Dublin, Michael Keegan-Dolan is Artistic Director of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre. Productions for Fabulous Beast include: Sunday Lunch (1997), Fragile (1999), The Flowerbed (2000), The Christmas Show (2001), Giselle (2003), The Bull (2005), James Son of James (2007) and most recently The Rite of Spring (2009), a co-production with English National Opera (ENO). Giselle and The Bull were both nominated for Olivier awards and in 2008 Keegan-Dolan won the UK Critics’ Circle Award for Best Modern Choreography (The Bull). Other choreographic work includes: Ariodante, Manon and Alcina (ENO); The Rake’s Progress (La Monnaie, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); Faust and Macbeth (Royal Opera House); The Duchess of Malfi, Carousel and The Oedipus Plays (National Theatre); Idomeneo (Royal Flanders Opera); The Love for Three Oranges (Cologne Opera); Pique Dame and Ariodante (Bavarian State Opera); as well as Ariodante and Manon (Houston Grand Opera). Michael Keegan-Dolan and Fabulous Beast have been Artistic Associates of The Barbican since 2007.

Philip Feeney
Composer

As a composer, Philip has worked almost exclusively within dance and ballet. He has written the music for over ten works with choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan, including The Bull, Giselle and The Flowerbed. His scores for Northern Ballet Theatre include Cinderella and Dracula. He has also written the music for Adam Cooper’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses and collaborated with Didy Veldman for ambert Dance Company, Cullberg Ballet, Scottish Dance Theatre and Gulbenkian Ballet. He has been Musical Director and Composer in Residence at Ballet Central (London) for 20 years.

Adam Silverman
Lighting Design

Adam works as a lighting designer in opera, theatre and dance. Recent productions include: Peter Grimes, The Turn of the Screw, Partenope, Boris Godunov, Jenufa and Lucia di Lammermoor for English National Opera (ENO); l’Ercole Amante for De Nederlandse Opera; and Aida for the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Adam has also lit: Tannhäuser for San Francisco Opera; Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Jeux and La chûte de la maison Usher for the Bregenz Festival; Das Schatzgraber for Oper Frankfurt; Pique Dame for Bayerische Staatsoper; Orfeo, One Touch of Venus and the ‘Eight Little Greats’ season at Opera North (UK); Orfeo and Idomeneo for Glimmerglass Opera; La traviata for the New Israeli Opera; the première of the play Five Gold Rings for the Almeida Theatre; the musical Beauty and the Beast for the Royal Shakespeare Company; and the play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg on Broadway. Previous work with Fabulous Beast includes Giselle, James Son of James, The Bull, The Flowerbed and most recently the Fabulous Beast/ENO co-production of The Rite of Spring.

Michael Dolan
Hilarion, Giselle’s brother

Michael was born in Dublin. After completing his trade exams as a metal fabricator in Ireland, he studied full time at the Central School of Ballet in London. He has worked with Heidelberg Ballet, LaLaLa Human Steps (Canada), Tanztheater Wien, Volksoper Wien and Aktionstheater Wien (Austria). Michael is also a Shadow Yoga teacher, teaching privately in Vienna and for Fabulous Beast. He has performed with Fabulous Beast in Sunday Lunch, The Flowerbed, Giselle, The Bull, James Son of James and The Rite of Spring.

Milos Galko
Albrecht, a bisexual line dancing teacher from Bratislava

Milos is from Slovakia where he studied Modern Dance at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava. After graduating he worked with the Laroque Dance Company in Austria, Soap Dance
Theatre in Frankfurt, DCA Philippe Decoufl é in France, Tanztheater Volksoper Wien, Aktionstheater and Chris Harring in Austria. He has performed with Fabulous Beast in The Flowerbed, Giselle, The Bull, James Son of James and The Rite of Spring.

Bill Lengfelder
Tommy McCreedy, Giselle’s father

Bill is a member of the theatre faculty at Southern Methodist University and of the Kitchen Dog Theater Company in Dallas. He is a certified teacher in the Society of American Fight Directors and has beena mime artist, boxer, professor and stunt double for a dog. He has performed with Fabulous Beast in Giselle, The Bull and The Rite of Spring.

Alex Leonhartsberger
Anne Devine

Alex was born in Vienna where he trained at the Austrian Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera. He has worked with many choreographers and companies throughout Europe, New Zealand and Australia including: Garry Stewart / Australian Dance Theatre (Held, Devolution); Douglas Wright (Black Milk); Michael Parmenter/Commotion Company; Tanztheater Wien; Volksoper Wien; and the Ballet of the Landestheater, Linz. Alex has previously performed with Fabulous Beast in Giselle, The Flowerbed, The Christmas Show and The Rite of Spring.

Mikel Murfi
Nurse Mary

Mikel Murfi is from Sligo, Ireland and studied at Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris. In theatre he has performed with many Irish companies including Barabbas, Rough Magic, Passion Machine, Blue Raincoat, Pigsback and at The Abbey and Peacock theatres. He has most recently appeared with Druid in Enda Walsh’s The New Electric Ballroom. Directing credits include The Walworth Farce for Druid, Trad for the Galway Arts Festival, The Lost Days of Ollie Deasy for Macnas which he also wrote. He has directed two short films: John Duffy’s Brother for Park films and Druma for Macnas and has appeared in many films including The Commitments and The Butcher Boy.

Emmanuel Obeya
Brigid McCreedy, Giselle’s mother

Mani was born in Nigeria and has been a member of Fabulous Beast since 2003. He studied in England at the Arts Educational School and the Rambert School and in New York at Dance Theatre of Harlem. He has worked in London as a freelance performer, in Germany at the Heidelberg and Mannheim State theatres and more recently with Tanztheater Wien and the Wiener Volksoper. He has performed with Cabula 6 Theatre Company in Austria and is a guest performer with The Forsythe Company in Germany. He is also the vocalist with Sofasurfers. Mani has previously performed with Fabulous Beast in Giselle, The Bull and James Son of James.

Neil Paris
Pat Dunne, the butcher’s son

Neil is from Norwich and was a cabinetmaker before training in theatre and dance at Dartington College of Arts and The Laban Centre. He has worked with Darkin Ensemble, Lapsus Corpi, Fronteras at The Old Vic and Tiebreak Touring Theatre. Neil leads education projects and workshops and was Artist in Residence on the Arann Islands off the West Coast of Ireland in 2009. He has previously performed with Fabulous Beast in Giselle, The Bull, The Flowerbed, James Son of James and The Rite of Spring.

Rachel Poirier
A ghost

Rachel was born in Brittany, France. She studied at the conservatoires of Rennes and La Rochelle. She then continued her training at the Rudra Béjart School in Lausanne, before joining Rambert Dance Company in London. She went on to become an apprentice with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Now a freelance artist, Rachel has also worked with Les Ballets de la Parenthèse in Marseilles, choreographer Christophe Garcia and John Jasperse Company in New York. She has previously performed with Fabulous Beast in The Bull, Giselle, The Flowerbed and James Son of James.

Angelo Smimmo
Bridget Mulrooney

Angelo is originally from Naples and began his performing career dancing at Atelier Rudra Béjart Lausanne. After a production of Otello with La Comédie Française, he then spent five years performing with Roberto De Simone playing lead parts in La Gatta Cenerentola, L’Opera buffa del giovedi’ Santo, Requiem in memoria di P.Pasolini and L’Osteria di Marechiaro in major theatres and festivals all over the world. He recently performed the role of Oberon in Lindsay Kemp’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and John Dee in Elizabeth I el ultimo baile. Other recent credits include the roles of Dushasana in a Sadler’s Wells production of The Mahabharata, Madison in Madison’s Descent, a concert composed by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and choreographed by David Bolger and Journeys of Love, for the Napoli Teatro Festival. He has previously performed with Fabulous Beast in Giselle, The Bull, James Son of James and The Rite of Spring.

Vladislav Soltys
Fat Mary, Nurse Mary’s daughter

Vladislav was born in Slovakia where he danced as a child with the folk dance company Zemplin. Following study at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava, he worked with Allegro Dance Company in Slovakia, Laroque Dance Company in Austria, Bratislava Dance Theatre, Landestheater Linz, Wiener Volksoper, Aktionstheater Wien (Austria), and Slovak Dance Theatre in Bratislava. He has performed with Fabulous Beast in The Flowerbed, Giselle, The Bull, James Son of James and The Rite of Spring.

Daphne Strothmann
Giselle

Daphne was born in Tanzania and studied at Bush Davies and Laine Theatre Arts School in England. She worked in Germany with Tanztheater Regenbogen and then moved to Vienna where she was a member of both Tanztheater Wien and Volksoper Wien. In 2004 she was choreographic assistant to Michael Keegan-Dolan for Faust at the Royal Opera House. Daphne is a teacher of Shadow Yoga, teaching privately in Vienna and for Fabulous Beast. She has performed with Fabulous Beast in The Bull, Giselle, The Flowerbed, James Son of James and The Rite of Spring.