Last Updated on May 24, 2026
Cuban Patricio Revé’s Ashton Debut
3.0 out of 5.0 starsNo choreographer is as quintessentially English as Sir Frederick Ashton (1904-1988); and few of his many ballets are as English as La Fille Mal Gardée (generally translated as The Wayward Daughter). Though inspired by an 18th-century French original, Ashton’s 1960 version, framed by Osbert Lancaster’s naturalistic designs, and set to a gloriously descriptive score by Ferdinand Hérold, distils the idealised essence of his beloved English countryside, lush, sunny, joyous and innocent. Up to a point: the titular daughter, Lise, is savvy and persistent enough to overcome her daunting mother, the Widow Simone’s opposition to marriage to the cheeky Colas; his persistence matches hers, and all’s well that ends well, as they say.
Along with Dame Ninette de Valois, who appointed him The Royal Ballet’s founder choreographer, Ashton was key in developing a specific style of English ballet, and the Ashton style is still spoken of with reverential awe. You know it when you see it: its unbroken elegance, wit and flowing response to the music, its technical difficulty with very fast, intricate footwork, accompanied by soft upper body and the famed épaulement tilt of head and shoulder.
English-trained dancers absorb it like mother’s milk, though it’s only fair to say not all ever master it completely. Some foreign-trained dancers, namely Marianela Núñez and Vadim Muntagirov, Royal Ballet principals and veterans, who opened this season’s first run of Fille performances back in the autumn, have become noted Ashtonians.
In the second tranche of Fille performances of the season, now underway at the Royal Opera House, much interest has focused on Patricio Revé, who will join The Royal Ballet as a principal in the coming season, but has been finding his Covent Garden feet with a number of guest appearances.
Trained in the famously athletic, virtuoso Cuban method, Revé’s move from the Cuban National Ballet, where he was a principal, to Queensland Ballet offered him plenty of opportunities to enlarge his repertoire and adapt his style to the requirements of different choreographers. The question now was, could he master the Ashton style and offer a convincing Colas?
On the whole, Revé acquainted himself well, after a slightly nervous start, when he had to perform his first variation holding a long stick – many dancers have commented on the difficulties posed by Fille’s abundant use of props. Revé is immensely elegant, and virtuosity holds no terrors for him. He jumps with ease, draws harmonious lines, turns well and partners with empathy. The minutiae of the style will surely come to him as he gets more immersed in The Royal Ballet. He will also learn to moderate his facial expressions, which are a bit on the wild side at present. But yes, he’ll do!
His Lise was the at times unpredictable Russian superstar Natalia Osipova, not the most Ashtonian of all ballerinas, her style and mannerisms more Russian than English. A gifted comedienne, she milks the comic potential of the role with gusto, if sometimes a little over the top, but on opening night, she appeared not quite invested in the performance.
Though the focus of this review of La Fille Mal Gardée was the lead partnership, and in particular Patricio Revé’s Ashton debut, I must mention Bennet Gartside’s performance as Widow Simone. Inspired by the Dames of English pantomime, Ashton cast this role en travesti, and it requires a fine balance between the character’s comically ill-tempered determination to marry her daughter to the simple son of a rich neighbouring landowner, and her endearing devotion to her only child, not to mention the ability to do the Lancastrian clog dance. Gartside excelled.
Elsewhere, the corps gave a spirited account of their profuse dances as peasants, Lise’s friends and dancing poultry, though the landing from some of the men was clumsy and needs urgent attention; and José Salazar’s conducting was distracting, with a disturbingly slow overture and erratic tempi throughout.
A final word for the one we’ve missed, that is to say, the live pony who delighted audiences for many years and apparently out of, in my view, misplaced concerns for animal welfare, has now been replaced by an animatronic version on wheels. Boo.
La Fille Mal Gardée is at the RBO from 23 May to 9 June
RBO
Bow Street
London WC2E 9DD
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