Firebird – A Double Bill

Last Updated on October 23, 2026

London City Ballet Presents Works by Glen Tetley and John Neumeier

4.0 out of 5.0 stars

Firebird – A Double Bill is London City Ballet’s latest programme in what has been a whirlwind three years of life for this revived company, the brand new iteration of the touring troupe which thrived in the 1980s and early 90s, earning the patronage of Diana, Princess of Wales.  If I start with this reminder, it’s because Christopher Marney, the man responsible for the revival of London City Ballet (LCB) and its artistic director, is insistent that the link should not be lost or forgotten, even if his company is following on its own exciting path.

LCB’s mission is to bring new and heritage work to UK audiences; and so it is with Firebird – A Double Bill, which has just had its London premiere at Sadler’s Wells, as part of an extensive UK and international tour.

The bill starts with John Neumeier’s Ghost Light.  The 87-year-old Neumeier, veteran former director of Hamburg Ballet, is a prolific choreographer whose work is well know throughout Europe and beyond, but sadly not in the UK.  Ghost Light is in many ways typical Neumeier – its choreography is classical, exacting and unhurried, and its concept original. Its genesis, though, is the product of force majeure: it started life during Covid lockdown, with Neumeier working in separate sections with dancers who were in a bubble, the whole thing only coming together when lockdown was lifted.  Set to music by Franz Schubert, Ghost Light premiered in Hamburg in 2020, and John Neumeier worked with LCB to develop this new version. It was good to see him take a bow at the end of this London premiere.

The ghost light is the single lamp left burning on a stage when theatres are closed; it remains until life returns to the stage, and it provided Neumeier with an ideal title for his ballet, more so when the choreographer learned of the English tradition that ghost lights allow the spirits of former performers to return and dance through the night.

Ghost Light is set on an empty, abandoned stage, where only a faint light burns.   What will happen on that stage for the best part of an hour is like a procession of shades, ghosts from the world of ballet.  In complete silence, guest artist Alina Cojocaru enters as the ineffable Swan Princess Odette, her dancing quoting from Swan Lake choreography.   

She’s joined by her prince (Josué Gomez), but their encounter is broken by the entrance of four men as the piano (recorded) joins in.   Other dancers in a variety of formations take their turns, quoting from known ballets like fragments of memory, now vigorous, now in joyous formations for five couples, later four, now in clinging, tender duets either for Cojocaru and Joseph Taylor, or for two men.  It’s a wonderful vehicle for LCB’s 16-strong cast, but its fragmentary nature can be distracting and the whole thing feels a little too long.

Marney picked Firebird to mark the centenary this year of the American choreographer Glen Tetley, whose work is no longer familiar to UK audiences.   Tetley used the original Stravinsky music, but turned the Russian fairy tale of the original Firebird ballet into a gothic narrative of captivity and eventual freedom within a family.

Finn Ross’s projection of a dark, desolate dead forest combines with David Finn’s murky lighting design to create a stifling atmosphere, within which Ellie Young is superb as the captive bird, her long arms like frail wings, her pliable body folding and unfolding with her yearning to be free.  She is expertly partnered by Joseph Taylor.  Arthur Henderson doubles as her father and the malevolent Kotschei in a startling skeleton costume, and the company provides threatening birds and captive maidens.  Tetley’s choreography uses the language of classical ballet but with a different, more forceful accent. It’s a gripping work.

Glen Tetley created Firebird for Royal Danish Ballet in 1981, and it took painstaking digging into fragments of notes and original film to bring about this LCB reconstruction, aided by John Macfarlane, who agreed to revisit his original designs, and the very first Firebird, the Danish ballerina Mette Hønningen.  Both took a bow at the end of the London premiere, and as a bonus Marney offered a filmed clip of Hønningen’s mesmerising original performance.

Firebird – A Double Bill is at Sadler’s Wells 22 – 24 October at 7.30 pm. Sat mat at 2.30 pm
Dur.: 2 hours inc one interval. Tickets: £15-90 (+ £4 transaction fee)

Sadler’s Wells (Angel)
Rosebery Avenue
London EC1R 4TN

For further dancce suggestions check out our London Dance Previews – July to December 2026