20th Century Masterpieces

Last Updated on June 20, 2026

Birmingham Royal Ballet Honours Three Choreographic Giants

4.0 out of 5.0 stars

Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) ends its season on a high with a compact series of performances of a demanding triple bill entitled 20th Century Masterpieces.  The weekend performances follow a one-off gala marking the 100th year of Director Laureate Sir Peter Wright, the man who steered the company’s move from London to Birmingham in 1990, rechristened it and led it with verve and distinction for the next five years.

The homage to Sir Peter, who appeared on stage at the end of the gala sitting on a throne to receive the congratulations of many people whose lives and careers he touched, while glitter fell from above, was beautiful and moving, and duly received a prolonged standing ovation; but in terms of meticulous dancing, Friday’s matinée performance was more like what we’ve come to expect from the company.

The triple bill varied from pure classicism – Balanchine’s Theme and Variations – through Ashton’s detailed celebration of ballet and ballerinas – Birthday Offering – to German expressionism with The Green Table, a work rarely performed in the UK.  It’s good to be able to report that BRB did all three justice.

The Green Table, created in 1932 by the German choreographer and company director Kurt Jooss, is a powerful indictment of the futility of war, a work whose impact hasn’t diminished with the years; on the contrary, having watched it two nights running, I found it even more devastating the second time around.

Subtitled ‘A Dance of Death in Eight Scenes’, it is set to Fritz A. Cohen’s score for two pianos (played live by Jeanette Wong and Yen Lee) and is dominated by the implacable martial helmeted figure of Death, its face an unmovable mask in black make-up, its movement syncopated, every heavy step containing menace.   It was danced with frightening authority by principal Lachlan Monaghan.  

The first and eighth scenes amount to a scathing denunciation of the criminal futility of politicos, ten grotesque characters posturing around a green table, their negotiations leading nowhere but war – not that they care.

The scenes in between, darkly lit by Hermann Marker, depict the stark reality of war: soldiers marching to their deaths carrying an increasingly blood and mud-stained standard, women in heartbreaking tableaux begging for mercy where none is forthcoming, and a sinister prowling profiteer in a bowler hat and white gloves.

The Green Table is a remarkable work, one, incidentally, dear to Sir Peter’s heart, as he danced it while a member of the Kurt Jooss company, and it’s good to see it back on stage.

It does, however, require some light relief, and here that was provided by the two sparkling, glorious classical homages to the art of ballet, which opened and closed the bill.

Ashton’s Birthday Offering, created for BRB’s previous incarnation, Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, in 1957, is essentially a celebration of the ballerina, set to an arrangement of music by Alexander Glazunov.  Divided into 13 short sections, it’s built around six couples that surround a central pair – I saw Momoko Hirata and Mathias Dingman.

Clad in the original lavish costumes by the French couturier André Levasseur, each colour-coded woman gets a short solo, the accents of which vary from dreamy to impish, all requiring the specific Ashton fast and intricate footwork, swift changes of direction and supple backs. All did well, none more so than the company’s long-serving Momoko Hirata, a very musical, very engaging ballerina. Plaudits, too, to Royal Ballet veteran Christopher Carr, responsible for this impeccable staging.

Equally demanding is Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, which closed the programme.  Set to music by Tchaikovsky and danced in a grand, courtly setting, all voluminous drapes and candelabra, by 13 couples in glittering, blue-tinged white (sets and costumes by Peter Farmer), it is imbued with Balanchine’s imperial grandeur, sweeping gestures and lace-like patterns.  This cast was led by Miki Mizutani and Enrico Berejano Vidal. Both were at ease with the ballet’s expansive choreography, but everybody else offered performances of high calibre.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by Paul Marphy, was in fine form, too. In short, 20th Century Masterpieces was a cleverly assembled programme, which showed what BRB is capable of.   It was admirable and very enjoyable.

Twentieth Century Masterpieces is at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 19 & 20 June at 2 pm and 7.30 pm

Dur.: TBC Tickets £25 – £65

Birmingham Hippodrome
South Side
Hurst Street
Birmingham B5 4TB

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