Thursday April 23rd, 2026
Don Quixote
We braved the tube strikes* for a trip to Sadler's Wells to see the Birmingham Royal Ballet in Carlos Acosta’s production of Don Quixote. It was indeed spactacular. The dancers were completely secure in their performances, making it all look easy - as well as impossible! Kitri (Yu Kurihara) is a charming heroine and Basilio (Yasiel Hodelín Bello) - not to mention all the dancers really - is athletic beyond reason; they make a charismatic couple. It is a long ballet but the colourful costumes and set, along with the humour and skilled execution made it seem all too short. We were a bit concerned by the idea that they had to do all that all over again for the evening performance, but then comforted to discover that they swap the principals for the evening.
I particularly liked poor Don Quixote's visions of the sinister and threatening windmills, literally coming alive with I presume back projection of Nina Dunn's designs.
[* I can't seem to write any entries of late without complaining about the travel arrangements. However, the best way to get to Sadler's Wells from Waterloo is by bus in any case - and despite tube strikes, they did not seem too crowded. We did have to wait an atypical amount of time for the right bus (incident on Rosebery Avenue!), and on the way back we walked quite a distance for sheer pleasure of it, in the afternoon sunshine in London..]
