Casanova - Sadler Wells Theatre

★★★★★

“Casanova”
📍Sadler’s Wells Theatre
🎫£15++

Northern Ballet dancers in Casanova © Caroline Holden

This play truly moved me. It showed me the beauty of a human body (all the dancers were basically shaped like mythical gods) , but also a much more complex story behind the man who’s mostly known for his sexual encounters.
“Casanova” takes us back to XVIII century in Venice and Paris – times of hedonism but also brilliant minds.

Casanova was one of them – he wrote an autobiography that became an invaluable source of information about the lives of people at the time, but he was also a talented musician and a polymath. In one of the scenes, the play suggests how Casanova struggled to be seen as a thinker and not just a handsome man (the scene with the painter).

I have to start with what I found the most striking: the light design! It’s designed to perfection and lets the audience focus on the flow of the story.
Set and costume design: just wow! The show will only be in London for 4 days but the gold, majestic stage design looks like it was done to stay there for a long run. Impressive!

And then, there’s the music, composed by Kerry Muzzey. Performed by 50-strong orchestra, it sounds like a cinema movie soundtrack (an epic one, like Star Wars or Avatar).

And of course, the fantastic dancers and the choreography. Can you imagine there are multiple scenes of intimacy and orgies, all done as dance scenes, tastefully and elegantly? Sounds impossible, yet it is. And then, some scenes include actors wearing masks, so you can’t see emotions through their facial expressions – but they show all of the emotions through dance and it’s very clear.
Am-amazing! Wish the show was there for longer, I’d love to revisit and have a second look. If you manage to get a ticket, I’m sure you’ll love it!

Details

Casanova – Ballet

Choreography: Kenneth Tindall

Directed by Lynette Linton

Original Scenario Ian Kelly and Kenneth Tindall (adapted from Ian Kelly’s biography of Casanova)
Music Kerry Muzzey
Set & Costume Design Christopher Oram
Wig & Makeup Design Richard Mawbey
Lighting Design Alastair West

Sadlers Wells Theatre