Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack
- Robert Beale
- 10 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Northern Ballet’s first large-scale commission since 2021 - and first under present artistic director Federico Bonelli - opens in Leeds on March 7, and will tour to Sheffield, Salford and Bradford among other venues.
It’s Gentleman Jack – a re-telling of the story of Anne Lister, the Yorkshirewoman who dressed as a man, climbed mountains and has become known as the “first modern lesbian”. It’s a co-production of Northern Ballet and Finnish National Opera and Ballet. Lister was born to wealth and property, succeeding to ownership of land and shares in canals, railways, mines and quarries, and lived at Shibden Hall in Halifax.
Sally Wainwright, the writer of the TV series of the same title, is part of the artistic team behind the ballet, choreographed by the multi-award-winning Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, with dance artist and singer/ songwriter Jemima Brown as choreography consultant. The newly composed music, performed live, is by Peter Salem.
Lister dressed and loved as she desired, not as most of 19th Century society expected her to. Her diaries were discovered and decoded after her death, revealing an independent, well-travelled businesswoman who defied society's norms and loved as fiercely as she lived.
Dramaturg Clare Croft, author of Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life, has helped to create an historical story through a modern lens. The production draws on elements of Anne’s adult life depicted in her own journal, including her often-painful love affairs with women, including Mariana Lawton - the woman thought to be the true love of her life - and her life-partner Ann Walker, with whom she marked Britain's first recorded “lesbian wedding” as they took Communion together at a York church in 1834.
Federico Bonelli says: “Since we announced Gentleman Jack we have been blown away by the intense anticipation shown for this new ballet. Creating something entirely new is always exhilarating, and this time we have the added excitement of creating a portrait of a real person through the choreography and storytelling.
"Annabelle has done an incredible job to push the boundaries of classical ballet – to communicate the passion between Anne Lister and two of her great loves through dance. It’s everything Northern Ballet represents: a story rooted in the North, but which will resonate as both timeless and contemporary.”
The pictures below show Gemma Coutts and Alessandra Bramante in the ballet (pic by Guy Farrow), and dramaturg Clare Croft and choreography consultant Jemima Brown in rehearsal (pic by Emily Nuttall)
Info and tickets here
Performances in Leeds (March 7-14), Sheffield Lyceum (March 31-April 4), Salford Lowry (June 4-6) and Bradford Alhambra (September 3-5)
