Royal Opera House, London
Francesca Hayward sparkles in this twee revival, a luminous presence in an inconsequential story about a lifesize doll
There are ballets of magical otherworldliness, of stirring drama, technical fireworks or formal daring. And then there’s Coppélia. Originally created in 1870 – this production by Royal Ballet founder Ninette de Valois dates from 1954 – Coppélia is a ballet with the thinnest of plots. Against a picturesque Germanic backdrop, Swanilda’s caddish fiance Franz will flirt with anything, even the mysteriously placid girl sitting in Dr Coppélius’s window … who turns out to be a lifesize doll. What larks!
Spread over three acts, there’s very little to work with. But if anyone could make this twee set-up worth watching it’s Francesca Hayward, a natural actor with luminous presence on stage. As Swanilda, she is spiritedly teenage, jumping down steps, huffing at Alexander Campbell’s Franz and his wandering eye, and conning Coppélius with her own doll-like act. She is full of personality – the very opposite of inanimate doll Coppélia. There should be no contest in Franz’s affections, but this is a story of grass-is-greener idealism, the “perfect” woman versus a feistier reality.
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