Queensland Ballet launches production of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon

It’s an adult ballet that thrills with beautiful dancing and gorgeous music, but Manon is also controversial for its rough sex, writes Phil Brown.

They used to say in England … no sex please, we’re British. The late great Sir Kenneth MacMillan didn’t have any time for such nonsensical statements however. And when he choreographed his acclaimed ballet, Manon, he let rip, to a certain extent.

So while his ballet, which debuted in 1974, is beautiful with lush music and amazing dancing it’s also pretty violent and a tad raunchy. I had forgotten that until a certain scene where Manon is forced to … no, I can’t say it in a family review. But I will say don’t take your family. Not the kids at least and maybe not your aged mother, particularly if she is Presbyterian.

Manon is gritty. I suggested as much to Sir Kenneth’s widow, Lady Deborah MacMillan, who is the keeper of his flame. Since his death 30 years ago his estate has kept a tight rein on who gets to perform his incredible ballets.

Mia Heathcote looking much better than she does at the end of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. Picture: David Kelly

Queensland Ballet had the honour of doing his Romeo and Juliet a few years ago under the supervision of Lady MacMillan and stagers sent out from London. She was here in Brisbane then and she’s back now, along with the stagers, and when I suggested to her that Manon was rather gritty she agreed.

“Very gritty,” she said. “I mean she gets trafficked and dies in a swamp.”

That’s a pithy summation of the story. You couldn’t get much pithier.

But in a sense it’s true because Manon, an ingenue who becomes a virtual prostitute as the mistress of a rich man, eventually ends up a convict and is sent to Louisiane, which was French at the time, to a penal colony where she eventually escapes and dies in a swamp. Or should that be a bayou? I feel a Tony Joe White song coming on.

Based on a 1731 novel that was initially banned, the story has been turned into operas and adapted in other ways and Sir Kenneth MacMillan was inspired to have a crack at it himself with incredible results.

Lady Deborah MacMillan and dancers Joel Woellner and Neneka Yoshida, who perform in Queensland Ballet’s production of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. Picture: David Kelly

Set in revolutionary times, cruel times when life was cheap, it’s a tragic tale with Manon as the tragic heroine, if you could even call her a heroine.

Mia Heathcote is fantastic as the woman whose decline we witness to gorgeous music by Jules Massenet, played exquisitely by Queensland Symphony Orchestra under conductor Nigel Gaynor, with incredible choreography by MacMillan.

It’s a long ballet (there are two intervals) and a theatrical one with stunning sets and costumes by Peter Farmer. The pageantry is impressive and MacMillan tells a story well but doesn’t pull his punches when it comes to rape and murder and other nastiness.

Heathcote is simply spectacular as Manon and her range in this epic is impressive and she must be exhausted by the end.

Not to worry though because there are five casts for this massive show.

Patricio Reve, the other lead is great as Des Grieux, her lover. He is an incredible athlete and a muscular performer who is compelling to watch.

Patricio Reve is an incredible athlete who has his work cut out for him in Queensland Ballet’s epic production of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon

Alexander Idaszak plays her doomed brother and Vito Bernasconi is quite the thespian as the disgraceful Monsieur GM and among other highlights on opening night Thursday was a guest star turn by artistic director Li Cunxin’s wife Mary Li, the company’s chief ballet mistress.

Li will also be guesting during the season as will internationally renowned ballerina Alina Cojocaru who will jet in for a couple of performances next week.

It’s a big production, a huge cast and it really is an epic in its way.

Opening night ended with a rather special announcement when Li Cunxin leapt to the stage to declare that both leads, Heathcote and Reve, were being promoted to the roles of principal dancers.

By this stage of the evening Heathcote didn’t look so good … I mean who would after dying in a swamp?

But the smile on her face and the tears in her eyes transcended all that and it was special that her parents, both acclaimed dancers in their day (Steven Heathcote and Kathy Reid) were in the audience with Reve’s folks patched in from Cuba by video. How lovely.

Manon is on in the Lyric Theatre at QPAC until October 8; qpac.com.au