Rapunzel Ballet Lorent...

A new version of the classic fairytale by balletLORENT, written by Carol Ann Duffy and Co-produced by Northern Stage.

A Sadler's Wells and New Writing North commission, in association with Durham Book Festival. Research supported by Jerwood Studio at Sadler's Wells.

balletLORENT is delighted to announce details of a major new touring work for 2012. Rapunzel will be for a family audience with a recommended age of seven years and above. Rapunzel will premiere at Durham Gala Theatre on the 18th October.

Artistic Director, Liv Lorent who has been inspired by the dark themes of this fairy story is working with a strong team of collaborators with world-class recognition and eight of balletLORENT's talented dancers to create this full-length work for middle to large-scale venues.

Liv has said; "Most of us remember Rapunzel's hair and the tower, but we're a bit hazy on the rest of the story. It has been told again and again and reinterpreted for children of today through versions like Disney's Tangled, but we're telling an older, slightly darker version, more akin to its Grimm tale origins. We've included a part of the story which is usually neglected and will be telling it through the eyes of different characters."

Collaborators include: Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate (Scenario Writer); Murray Gold (Music); Phil Eddolls (Set Design); Michele Clapton (Costume); Malcolm Rippeth (Lighting Design) and Lesley Sharp (Narration).

In July 2011, Liv was offered a week of research and development organised through The Jerwood Studio, a major creative initiative developed by Sadler's Wells Theatre and supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, allowing artists the freedom to explore ideas with collaborators.

Liv used the opportunity to explore ideas with nine dancers, set and lighting designers and a production manager to see how the company might produce this work for middle and large-scale theatres. The week focused on the bigger dance scenes within the story that Liv wanted to tell and on set ideas to accommodate a large and varied cast. As an experiment, Liv also incorporated a number of children aged from one to fourteen years into the rehearsals.

This new ballet is so stylistically beautiful with it's dreamy, slightly dark setting and stunning costumes. Although you would expect nothing less from a designer such as Michele Clapton! I love the use of trees and gnarled roots printed onto neutral colours and all offset with flashes of red. The colour combinations have a feel of Arthur Rackham's illustrations for the Grimm fairytales, of which Rapunzel is one of many.