When to see it
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This work is being performed as part of a mixed programme:
Ceremony of Innocence / The Age of Anxiety / Aeternum
A Scarlett world premiere and two recent works by Brandstrup and Wheeldon: contemporary ballet at its finest.
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Introduction
Liam Scarlett sets Leonard Bernstein's Symphony no.2, 'The Age of Anxiety', inspired by W.H. Auden's epic poem. In a New York bar in wartime four lonely strangers attempt to find spiritual meaning in an industrialized world.
News and features
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Autumn Season 2014/15
31 March 2014Helpful links and information on booking for forthcoming performances.
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Ballet and Dance 2014/15
31 March 2014Details of The Royal Ballet's 2014/15 Season have been announced.
Background
British choreographer Liam Scarlett was appointed The Royal Ballet's first Artist in Residence in 2012. His dark, probing narrative works for the Company – Sweet Violets on the main stage and Hansel and Gretel in the Linbury Studio Theatre – have won acclaim, and so too the unique language of movement exemplified in his abstract works such as Asphodel Meadows and Viscera.
In his new work for the Company Scarlett sets Leonard Bernstein's Symphony no.2, 'The Age of Anxiety'. Bernstein had an intense emotional response to Auden's poem, later writing 'When I first read the book I was breathless'. This deep personal resonance is married with Bernstein's instinctive sense of rhythm, which has made his music so attractive to choreographers. John Macfarlane, who collaborated with Scarlett on all his previous main-stage works for The Royal Ballet, creates the designs.