04 October 2008

David Bintley introduces the six dancers who will be taking on the lead male role for the autumn 2008 production of Beauty and the Beast.

Robert Parker

Robert was part of David's original cast in 2003, and created the role of the Beast. Following a year-long sabbatical, he returns to one of his biggest roles. 'It's great,' says David on having his original Beast back again, 'great to see that he's still so good, for a start, but also there's something nice about having someone in the part from the original cast because he really did create that role.

'Sometimes when a dancer creates a role, other people go on to make it much better. But with Bob, we've always had a great performance right from the outset. The interesting thing is that although the other "Beasts" are watching and taking a lot from him, it's a role that can actually be played very differently, and they're all very varied.'

Even Robert is experimenting with the part that he created. 'Oh of course,' exclaims David. 'When you've done a role even ten times, you get bored and you start pushing aspects of it. I've done Dr Coppélius every way imaginable! It doesn't mater how great the role is, you can't just do the same thing every time, you have to live it. And a dancer like Bob just doesn't give a non-committed performance.'

Chi Cao

In his introduction to Chi in the current programme, David describes Chi as an 'exciting interpretive artist', and he is quick to praise him again in his role as second cast Beast. 'Chi is a very elegant dancer, and he's a very good technician,' says David. 'He makes the creature more feline to me. Also, because he's smaller, you get a very different kind of impact.

'One of the previous performers that I really liked in the role was Tiit Helimets,' the Director explains, 'because he was so big in that costume that he really towered over Belle. He used to do it with Molly Smolen, who was tiny, and it looked fantastic having a beast that big. But it's really interesting having someone who's a little bit shorter like Chi, because he's much sleeker. He always reminds me of a panther. I deliberately didn't make the animal aspect of the Beast too specific, but Chi, because of his movement quality, really comes across like a beautiful but quite powerful cat.'

Matthew Lawrence

First-time Beast Matthew Lawrence joined the Company at the start of 2008, and so is dancing the role for the first time. 'He's never seen the piece before,' confirms David. 'It's interesting in rehearsals: he was initially being very beastly, deliberately un-humanlike in the way that he was walking and moving and looking at things. He was pushing the animal aspect of it forwards. I've said to him that he should think of it more like a human trapped inside this animal body.

'Because inside, the character is really a Prince, and there is a nobility that has to come into it. When he's transformed into the Beast he doesn't become a quasimodo figure - he's not physically debilitated, he's just an animal.

'But I like Matt, because he's very masculine. He certainly is not going to be like a cat in it, he's much more lupine, like a wolf! I've also partnered him with Lei Zhao as Belle. She's not done a lot of big, big roles before, and some of the duets are very difficult, but Matthew is a terrific partner, so I think they'll be really good together.'

César Morales

New arrival César Morales is the next dancer taking on the lead male role, and so will make his Company debut with his face concealed for much of the show! David is quick to explain that his performance more than shines through the mask, however, with the dancer having quickly found his own take on the character.

'César is more in the mould of Chi again', the Director considers. 'I like what he's doing very much, because its got great strength, almost the strength and attack of Bob Parker, but at the same time it's got this quietness and this softness that's like Chi. And he looks rather wounded to me, he looks quite pitiable, which can be a difficult thing to achieve consistently.

'He'll be performing with Natasha Oughtred, who's never danced the role of Belle before either, and I think this will work well. Sometimes I like to pair a new person up with someone more experienced, like Matthew and Lei, and sometimes I like to put two new people together like these two and let them explore it in their own way. The production holds its own and, unless they're going off the rails, I like people to be able to find new things in the roles.'

Tyrone Singleton

Having joined Birmingham Royal Ballet just five years ago, Soloist Tyrone Singleton has impressed in a number of difficult roles, culminating in this casting as the male lead. David has high expectations. 'Tyrone will be more in the Tiit Helimets mould I hope, because he's a big lad, and he's doing it with Ambra Vallo, who's the smallest of the girls. It's not his first big role of course, because he did Swan Lake earlier this year.'

Tyrone has so far proven himself able to take on the responsibility of larger roles. 'It's great,' confirms David, 'because he's quite far down the list of casts, but he's been really watching it well and I believe that he has really learned from everything and from everyone around him.

'Tyrone can see the fine details and he understands a role and he's a good actor. And all of this is coming through in his Beast, because it's a big role, it's technically demanding and it involves difficult partnering. And you've really got to make a character – or in fact two characters, the Prince and the Beast that he becomes!'

Jamie Bond

With only the Birmingham casting currently confirmed, David offers one final surprise. 'We're getting one more Beast on tour,' he reveals, 'We're getting Jamie Bond. I don't know how he plays it yet, I only told him on Friday! He's been in my mind for a while though, and I'm confident that he can manage it.

'You've always got to be aware that when creating a piece like this, a full-length fairy tale narrative that has the potential to be a very popular piece, that a lot of people are going to perform it, and it's good to see that this is a role that can take that.

'A role like the lead in Cyrano is much more difficult, because you need to be much more of a 'type' to do that, but with the Beast it's much more broad. And Jamie is a good dancer, a good partner and a good actor, and he's knocking at that level of performance.

'But it will be a lot of work for them all. It's a very big tour – because we've got cross-border touring falling into it with Cardiff and Edinburgh, and of course we are also visiting London this time, where it's never been before, it's really made it quite long. And because it's a popular piece, Plymouth and Sunderland have gone with week-long runs.

'But it's nice to be able to get so many Beasts on, and it's great to know that I've got so many Beasts to put on!'

ENDS

Five pieces of choreography based on bird movements
Video: Beauty and the Beast, Act I pas de deux
Artsfest 2011 performance
Five splashes of sunshine!
Beauty and the Beast