Atwood’s grim story brought to life in dystopian dance

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This article was published 13/10/2022 (1435 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lila York’s The Handmaid’s Tale could well be the bleakest ballet the RWB has ever produced. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, when its subject matter is as gritty as it gets — and all chillingly hitting too close to home.

The troupe chose to open its 2022/23 season not with classical tutus and tiaras, but with the New York City-based choreographer’s fiercely contemporary ballet, performed en pointe, based on Canadian literary giant Margaret Atwood’s prophetic novel of the same name.

It’s truly remarkable how Atwood’s vision of a darkly dystopian world in which women’s reproductive rights have been ripped away by totalitarian forces strikes harder today than she penned the novel in 1985. The work has now spawned both a Hulu-produced TV series and her 2019 sequel, The Testaments.

It also inspired this RWB-commissioned “dance-drama” given its local première in 2013, attended by Atwood herself, and last staged in October 2018.

The nearly two-hour production (including intermission) tells the tale of Offred — literally “of Fred” — living in futuristic society Gilead after a military coup staged by fundamentalist religious zealots has overthrown the U.S. government.

Women are indoctrinated in the Red Centre as red-habited handmaids to bear children for commanders in lieu of their wives, made sterile by radiation poisoning.

There were some very fine performances during Wednesday night’s opening, with all lead roles alternating throughout the five-show run that wraps up Sunday.

The first of those is principal dancer Elizabeth Lamont, reprising — and deepening — the protagonist role of Offred. This company gem displayed her usual pristine technique during her series of pas de deux, as well chameleonic acting gifts that infused her character with aching vulnerability.

She also navigated the challenges of bringing to life a character that lives mostly in subtext and inner dialogue; her stylized rape scene with the Commander (second soloist Liam Caines), underscored by a grotesquely distorted Tales of the Viennese Woods, was almost unbearable to watch.

The second is Offred’s feisty friend, Moira — performed by second soloist Katie Bonnell — who bolts for her life from the Red Centre and winds up as a hardened harlot at Jezebel’s, a bawdy bar filled with strangely tame prostitutes where leering commanders pay for play.

Bonnell held nothing back during her flailing, convulsive solo, riddled with angular, slashing movement vocabulary, after reuniting with Offred, her stony facial expression revealing a soul lost forever from despair.

Another standout was the Commander’s barren wife Serena Joy, portrayed by soloist Jaimi Deleau. Pining for her glory days as a gospel singer, she belts out Rock of Ages and bullies Offred into submission.

Principal dancer Alanna McAdie made every moment count as the Pregnant Handmaid, whose death, after being blamed by the Wives for delivering a stillborn child, brings to life the horror of Atwood’s shocking story.

Soloist Yayoi Ban’s Aunt Lydia lords power over the Handmaids during their indoctrination with menacing force.

York wisely creates an emotional counterpoint to provide viewers with some relief. One of those is the use of film, featuring former principal dancer — the dearly missed Amanda Green, RWB’s original Offred — performing a tender al fresco pas de deux with Eric Nipp as her chauffeur lover, Nick (currently performed by soloist Stephan Azulay). It’s effective, but demands a leap of faith when juxtaposed with the 2022 cast.

However the ballet’s greatest flaw remains one of structural design, its series of 16 scenes unfolding like chapters in a book. That works well in a literary context; however, this is dance, and the show’s fundamentally episodic nature, including copious blackouts, only diffuses the dramatic tension while unravelling its overall narrative thread.

The final image comes far too quickly after the penultimate (and anti-climatic) “Salvaging/May Day” uprising scene, only feeling gratuitous, as Offred swings from the same ropes that earlier formed nooses to hang Gilead doctors who dared to perform abortions. The point is made in a few minutes, with this overly extended “The Time After” long overstaying its welcome, despite being accompanied by Arvo Part’s spellbinding violin and piano duet, Spiegel in Spiegel.

The ballet still pops visually, with its strong production values including Clifton Taylor’s multi-level set design, in which exposed scaffolding and lighting grids provide a starkly cold canvas for Liz Vandal’s colour-coded costumes — the Handmaiden’s blood-red tunics are particularly arresting — dramatically lit by Taylor with Anshuman Bhatia.

A contemporary pastiche score ranging from John Corigliano to Alfred Schnittke, among others, features the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra brilliantly led by RWB principal conductor Julian Pellicano, driving these clearly committed dancers forward in their all-too-real cautionary tale, while adding further fuel to these fires of hell.

For tickets or further information, visit www.rwb.org.

Holly.harris@shaw.ca