0:00:06 > 0:00:10November 2016, on the stage of Covent Garden,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14the Royal Ballet celebrates the 90th birthday of Sir Peter Wright.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22CHEERING
0:00:25 > 0:00:29They were paying tribute to a great man of British ballet.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32One whose accomplishments exceed his fame.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36CHEERING
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Peter Wright's outstanding productions of the classics
0:00:58 > 0:01:01are among the glories of the Royal Ballet.
0:01:06 > 0:01:07With The Nutcracker,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11he brought a new magic and dramatic flair to the Christmas favourite.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25And he underlined the supernatural beauty
0:01:25 > 0:01:28and dark romanticism of Giselle.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36THEY CHEER
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Peter Wright was the founding father of Birmingham Royal Ballet.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44Following a career as a dancer, teacher, television director,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47choreographer and producer.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52I think he is incredibly aware that he's had a blessed life
0:01:52 > 0:01:56and had amazing talent that was around him all of his own career.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59And wants to use all that knowledge to keep passing on.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06In his 90th year, Wright continues to supervise productions
0:02:06 > 0:02:10of his ballets around the world - from Florida to Toronto,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12to Budapest, where he staged The Sleeping Beauty.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20We mustn't ever lose our great classical heritage.
0:02:20 > 0:02:21It is so important.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Especially these days, when dance is going through quite a change.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30And we're getting a lot of contemporary dance, which I love.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Also, it's getting very athletic and you haven't got much more
0:02:33 > 0:02:36to do than step, kick, bash, roll on the floor.
0:02:40 > 0:02:41Check one thing.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45The top boys, he's downstage with the girl
0:02:45 > 0:02:47- and he started upstage with the girl.- All right,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49we need to remember that.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I felt incredibly lucky to have him as my first director.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Because he was so informative
0:02:54 > 0:02:58and happy to say exactly where I was going wrong.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01- That was terrible on the stage. - Yeah, yeah.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Peter always speaks his mind and he encourages people to ask questions.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09And he thinks about it seriously and then he'll come back with why
0:03:09 > 0:03:12he wants it to be his way.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15And not, sort of, too much up, up, up.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Forthright, fair, great sense of humour,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22really a true man of the theatre.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27In this film, Sir Peter Wright gives the first major television
0:03:27 > 0:03:29interview about his life and career.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50In recent years, Peter Wright has been a judge for the annual
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Princess Margaret Competition, at London's Francis Holland School.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00Most children today begin ballet lessons at a very young age.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04When Wright decided to train as a dancer, he was already a teenager.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13I first became interested in ballet when I was about 16
0:04:13 > 0:04:17and my mother had taken me to see a ballet, Les Sylphides.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23I was absolutely mesmerised.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Those beautiful ladies in their white dresses
0:04:26 > 0:04:28in the moonlight.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37And suddenly, seeing this wonderful atmosphere of dancing,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41with this good-looking man surrounded by these ladies,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43I, sort of, saw myself in that position.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46I turned to my mother and I said, "Now I know what I want to do
0:04:46 > 0:04:49"with my life, I want to be a dancer, like that."
0:04:58 > 0:05:00That went to my father.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03He was absolutely appalled.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06My father was against my becoming a dancer.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Mostly, I think, because he was a very good, strict Quaker.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14He was very keen that, whatever his children did, they had
0:05:14 > 0:05:18security in their lives and would have a good salary and all that.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22I didn't care a damn about that. I just wanted to dance.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Now, we'll start with a single pirouette to the right
0:05:26 > 0:05:27and a single pirouette to the left.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36This is that a time when even girls going onto the stage
0:05:36 > 0:05:41was slightly scandalous for a nice, middle-class family.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43It's just something you didn't do.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Eventually, you're going to do two pirouettes in the air.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Right, now, I'll show you.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58For a boy especially to go into dancing was really frowned upon
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and it was all a kind of unspoken thing that,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03"Oh, you are a homosexual."
0:06:03 > 0:06:08So, actually, Peter Wright was really quite determined and tough
0:06:08 > 0:06:11to go and do that and stand up against his father.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Wright was so determined, he even ran away from school.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22His father then agreed to accompany him, to see the presiding
0:06:22 > 0:06:25force of British ballet, Ninette de Valois.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Would you like to see anything else?
0:06:28 > 0:06:31She founded the pioneering Sadler's Wells company,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34as well as the leading dance school in Britain.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36What do you think of her, from your point of view, Mr Haskel?
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Well, we must check up on her school reports.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41She said, "Well, I'll let you go to my school,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45"but I'm afraid I can't give you a scholarship, because of the war."
0:06:45 > 0:06:49I said, "Well, I'm afraid my father won't pay,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51"so I won't be able to go."
0:06:51 > 0:06:53She said, "Well, that's too bad."
0:06:53 > 0:06:56But she said, "Persevere."
0:06:56 > 0:06:58She said, "You've got quite a good face."
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Peter Wright's first apprenticeship in ballet was in
0:07:05 > 0:07:09The Green Table, a modern dance drama.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14It was performed on tour in Britain in 1943 by a German company,
0:07:14 > 0:07:15run by Kurt Jooss.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20Wright directed this film of the ballet for the BBC
0:07:20 > 0:07:21over 20 years later.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31The Green Table deals with the futility of war.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37Diplomats fail to achieve peace and the innocent suffer and die.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42To work with this company doing a ballet with such a strong,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46important message, I thought I had made the right decision.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48This is worth doing.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55Of course, we were at war with Germany and we were touring and the
0:07:55 > 0:08:01bombs were dropping and, at the same time, this ballet was being shown.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10Jooss's great belief was, once you're in the theatre,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13whatever you do has to have an idea
0:08:13 > 0:08:17and communicate something to the audience.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Over 20 years before this film was made,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Wright was actually dancing in the ballet.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29That soldier, that was the first role I ever did.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32You can just see where I get killed.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42So, I died a death on my first appearance.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51While pursuing his early dream to be a dancer,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Wright took part in a film made as an introduction
0:08:53 > 0:08:55to the art of ballet.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01The pas de chat, in this case, a dance for the four men
0:09:01 > 0:09:03who will play the character parts in our ballet.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Although I was learning a lot about theatre,
0:09:07 > 0:09:12I decided I really should get some classical training
0:09:12 > 0:09:18and I had heard a lot about this teacher called Vera Volkova.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22She had been Vaganova-trained in Russia.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25And Vaganova really was the best sort of Russian training.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31It really changed my life, my whole attitude to dance.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38The way she would explain a step and the feeling of the step,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40she was marvellous.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57The late 1940s, you worked with a number of different ballet
0:09:57 > 0:10:02companies, but also to earn your living, you did other work.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Oh, yes.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07I worked in the commercial theatre in London.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09I was in a lot of musicals.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12I sometimes used to get a job as a model.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14I was a film extra.
0:10:14 > 0:10:20Just to get enough money to pay for classes with Volkova.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22In that case, let us dance.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26I was in that film Anna Karenina, with Vivien Leigh.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Because I could waltz and there was a waltzing scene,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33I let it be known very quickly that I could waltz.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Most of the extras couldn't. They were like...
0:10:45 > 0:10:50At a time when dancers were obliged to perform wherever and whenever
0:10:50 > 0:10:53they could, Wright benefited from his exposure
0:10:53 > 0:10:55to all forms of theatre.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01In 1949, he was finally accepted by Ninette de Valois
0:11:01 > 0:11:04as a dancer in the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09The company toured extensively in Britain and abroad.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17In these formative years, Wright became close friends
0:11:17 > 0:11:20with two dancers who developed into great choreographers.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Kenneth MacMillan...
0:11:25 > 0:11:29..and John Cranko, loved for his witty, narrative ballets.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35I think what distinguishes Cranko from other choreographers is,
0:11:35 > 0:11:40first of all, his very strong theatricality,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43his sense of humour - and that's quite rare for
0:11:43 > 0:11:46a choreographer to have a good sense of humour.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54He was quite mercurial and unpredictable.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Eins, zwei, drei, vier. Renverse, renverse.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02And I'm glad to say that I was never on the wrong side of him,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06otherwise I think that might have been quite scary.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09I know that he and Peter had a great relationship.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11One, two, three...
0:12:11 > 0:12:13LAUGHTER
0:12:13 > 0:12:17He did such diverse things, like Lady and the Fool,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20which was a very touching story, in a way.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28I danced in it a lot.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33This grand lady had three suitors and I was one of the suitors.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Dancing in another Cranko ballet brought Peter Wright
0:12:46 > 0:12:49face-to-face with his future wife.
0:12:49 > 0:12:56We all met at John Cranko's house and there was a dancer,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59half-Japanese, called Sonya Hana.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02She actually didn't like being in ballet companies,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05because she was well-known in the West End and she was
0:13:05 > 0:13:08a principal dancer in a lot of big shows.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12I fell madly and deeply in love with Sonya.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20She wanted to be a star and just missed out,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24cos we were in Flower Drum Song together, an American musical,
0:13:24 > 0:13:29and she was understudy to one of the principals, but she never got on.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Some people are never, ever off.
0:13:31 > 0:13:38MUSIC: Un Bel Di Vedremo
0:13:40 > 0:13:46She made a wonderful film of the opera, Madam Butterfly.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52She played Madam Butterfly,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55but mouthed the whole thing.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59The whole cast was like that.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01The action was done by actors and dancers.
0:14:03 > 0:14:11MUSIC: Un Bel Di Vedremo
0:14:14 > 0:14:17While Sonya Hana appeared in a BBC Opera production,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21her husband danced in a studio version of The Nutcracker,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24in which he was seen partnering the most beloved of all
0:14:24 > 0:14:27British ballerinas, Margot Fonteyn.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50I think Margot Fonteyn became the star,
0:14:50 > 0:14:55because of all the different parts of being a ballerina,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59she had, first of all, a natural, a wonderful musicality.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18She had the perfect form in her physical shape. The proportions
0:15:18 > 0:15:23were absolutely right - the length of the leg compared with the torso.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27And the head... All was just right.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34In The Sleeping Beauty, filmed a year later,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Wright appeared this time as the Indian prince
0:15:37 > 0:15:40to Fonteyn's Aurora in the famous Rose Adagio.
0:16:04 > 0:16:11As I was so full of adoration, almost, of Fonteyn,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I was very, very gentle with her and everything.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20So, we were going along and it was sort of going OK,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24but I felt she wasn't really very comfortable with my partnering.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Suddenly, she stopped and put her hands on her hips and faced me
0:16:27 > 0:16:31and said, "Peter, will you please remember I'm just a dancer
0:16:31 > 0:16:37"and I need to feel that there is someone there, holding me there."
0:16:38 > 0:16:41So, I said, "Oh, right. OK."
0:16:41 > 0:16:44And that broke the ice and we were fine then.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46I did, I just thought of her as a dancer.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Now with a young family to support, Wright was thinking to his future.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14His success making a television dance piece
0:17:14 > 0:17:19on the BBC directors course led to the offer of a full-time contract.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24I didn't accept it at once, because I had to discuss it with my wife.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28I got home and before I could talk to my wife,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32the telephone rings and it's John Cranko.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34He had been offered this wonderful job as the director
0:17:34 > 0:17:37of the Stuttgart Ballet. And he said, "Oh, Pete, come to
0:17:37 > 0:17:39"Stuttgart, I need your help.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42"I need a ballet master.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44"What are you doing?"
0:17:44 > 0:17:48I said, "John, I'm just about to sign a contract with the BBC,"
0:17:48 > 0:17:50and he was appalled and horrified.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52He said, "You can't go into television.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57"Your work should be in the theatre. Come and join me."
0:17:57 > 0:18:01John had a way of persuading people to do things for him,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04even if they really didn't think they could.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09Stop. Now, coming off pointe, it's lovely through the foot,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11but can you stay a little bit more.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18I think it was because of his great loyalty and his admiration
0:18:18 > 0:18:23for Cranko that Peter decided to change his mind about
0:18:23 > 0:18:29the television career and give himself to Cranko.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31And...
0:18:31 > 0:18:35John was, in a way, one of the most important,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39if not the most important, influences my life.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Yes!
0:18:41 > 0:18:42Now, why not?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Every time.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Because he made me believe in myself.
0:18:47 > 0:18:53He gave me huge responsibilities and he got me to choreograph.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59I was doing a bit of choreography and actually I produced
0:18:59 > 0:19:02one or two things which were quite good.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19And...
0:19:22 > 0:19:23Yes.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27In building up the company in Stuttgart,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Cranko needed new productions of the classics
0:19:30 > 0:19:34and asked Peter Wright to stage the great romantic ballet, Giselle.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Giselle is a peasant girl,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43who is wooed by Duke Albrecht in disguise.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52When his secret is revealed, she supposedly dies from heart failure.
0:19:53 > 0:19:54Whoops.
0:19:54 > 0:19:59I said, "John, no way can I do Giselle.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01"I don't like the ballet particularly.
0:20:01 > 0:20:08"That simpering little girl hopping around with her funny heart."
0:20:08 > 0:20:14Of course, I actually had never taken Giselle very seriously,
0:20:14 > 0:20:21except one time when I had seen the Bolshoi do it, with Galina Ulanova.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26APPLAUSE
0:20:29 > 0:20:35Who, even to this day, remains the greatest Giselle I've ever seen.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37She was just wonderful.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47I can see why I was mad about her.
0:20:50 > 0:20:56Every particle of her body is Giselle.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03She so light and she's... You can see she's a young, excitable,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07very excitable young girl.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10I'd never seen it performed like this before
0:21:10 > 0:21:12and it was an absolute revelation.
0:21:14 > 0:21:15John, of course, persuaded me.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18He said, "Well, I'm telling you, you've got to do it.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23"You can have six weeks off to go and do some research
0:21:23 > 0:21:26"and see what you can make of it."
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Giselle became Wright's calling card around the world
0:21:29 > 0:21:32and his version is still performed by the Royal Ballet.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40The crucial scene in the ballet is when Giselle discovers
0:21:40 > 0:21:43the Duke is already engaged to a noblewoman.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Many of the greatest dancers, including the Natalia Osipova
0:22:01 > 0:22:05and Carlos Acosta, have embraced Wright's vision of the ballet.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17If you go back to the beginning and realise how it was first evolved,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21how it first evolved with the whole thing about Giselle,
0:22:21 > 0:22:27whether she was a suicide or whether she died of
0:22:27 > 0:22:31a broken heart, and I discovered in the original production,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34it says she took out a great sword
0:22:34 > 0:22:36and plunged it into her heart and died.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49But over the years, some ballerinas didn't like killing themselves.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56Sylvie Guillem was an absolute pain about it all.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58She's so...
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Well, she's very selfish.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03And she said, "I don't care what it says in the programme.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08"I don't care, it's me. I am dancing this role.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11"And I, I don't kill myself.
0:23:11 > 0:23:17"I am a modern Giselle and it's because my heart is affected."
0:23:17 > 0:23:20And I said, "Well, OK."
0:23:20 > 0:23:24She was a wonderful dancer, but my relationship with her
0:23:24 > 0:23:31was not terribly good, because she didn't want to listen.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34MUSIC: Giselle by Adolphe Adam
0:23:37 > 0:23:41After 40 years, Wright's Giselle is still in the repertoire
0:23:41 > 0:23:43of the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45where he recently restaged it.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51If you're naughty, like Rudolf Nureyev used to be...
0:23:53 > 0:23:55..you, you put her...
0:23:55 > 0:23:59He takes your hand and he does...
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Kisses it that way, which is a bit suggestive. Yes?
0:24:05 > 0:24:07And then, you take your hand.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10'When Peter starts a production,
0:24:10 > 0:24:15'I think he really goes for the dramatic truth.'
0:24:15 > 0:24:17- OK, does that make sense?- Yes.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20And I think for me, that's what makes
0:24:20 > 0:24:23those productions work so well.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26And the thing is, your character is a peasant.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30And it needs that feeling all the time, that you love dancing.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32You've got all these people and everything.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36And for you, when you're dancing, it has all this dam-de-dam,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38we used to...there and there.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42- So, as much of that, if you can keep the feeling in this.- Mm-hm.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Because you'll do it very, very well.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47Of course, we're all in tights and pointe shoes
0:24:47 > 0:24:50and all of those things, but it has to be as real as possible.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54PIANO PLAYS
0:25:01 > 0:25:04'And I think that's why people love those productions.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07'Because they can really immerse themselves in them.'
0:25:16 > 0:25:20And I think, for me, that's the genius of them.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25One, two, three, four, five, six. One...
0:25:29 > 0:25:32The second act of Giselle features the Wilis,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35the ghosts of young women who have been betrayed by men.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Three, four, five, six.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45One, two, three, four, five, six...
0:25:49 > 0:25:52The Queen of the Wilis was one of the first major roles
0:25:52 > 0:25:56performed by young Darcey Bussell almost 30 years ago,
0:25:56 > 0:25:58under the direction of Peter Wright.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00- That's more over.- Mm-hm.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05'I remember having to step into the role quite quickly,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07'so I'd learned all the steps
0:26:07 > 0:26:09'and it's also very strenuous and exhausting.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13'And he said straight away, "OK, forget about this.'
0:26:13 > 0:26:14"Forget about all the steps.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17"I know you're preoccupied about trying to balance,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20"in the fog, in the mist," we have all this mist on the stage.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23He says, "I want you to play the story.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27"It has to be all about who you are and why you're there.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29"And your purpose."
0:26:29 > 0:26:31And it changed the whole way I danced.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36As soon as I had that in my head, of my character,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38suddenly, all the steps made sense.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55I thought it was one of the best advice I ever got very early on.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58HE HUMS
0:27:00 > 0:27:04- Evil.- Evil, yes. Really, quite...
0:27:04 > 0:27:08As if something terrible happened to you on your wedding night.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13This is, "I'll never forgive that man!" Yes, but all the time.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17So, it's not just a solo. Because you dance it very well.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19PIANO PLAYS
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Peter Wright's talent as a teacher and ballet master
0:27:23 > 0:27:27was demonstrated in a television experiment in 1964.
0:27:27 > 0:27:28All right, for the next exercise, Derek,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31if you'd like to just come down here.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34And we'll do battements glisses.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37It was a specially shot class with Wright instructing
0:27:37 > 0:27:40some Royal Ballet dancers soon to achieve fame.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43They were very worried, actually,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46when they thought they were being exposed,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49because they didn't know where the camera was going to be
0:27:49 > 0:27:52and I think they did feel uncomfortable.
0:27:52 > 0:27:53'Good, and...'
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Lynn Seymour there.
0:27:56 > 0:28:02She, of course, is probably the most famous dramatic and classical dancer
0:28:02 > 0:28:04that the Royal Ballet ever produced.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08'Lynn, come here, would you? Demonstrate with you...'
0:28:08 > 0:28:12She had a very pliable...
0:28:14 > 0:28:18..wonderfully rounded way of moving.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Five, stretch,
0:28:21 > 0:28:23and just bend the back, the head and neck.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Of all the dancers I knew,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27she was the one who used to really dance the most.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30'And she had exquisite feet.'
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Three, and port de bras right round.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Round, and...
0:28:37 > 0:28:39'And I just adored her, absolutely adored her.'
0:28:39 > 0:28:41Up.
0:28:42 > 0:28:43Good, all right...
0:28:43 > 0:28:46I don't remember that at all, doing that. I'm pleased I did that.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Right, girls. Now, brainteaser.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51- And two in. - PIANO PLAYS
0:28:51 > 0:28:52Two.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54Eight, count.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01Glissade, feet, glissade, feet, glissade, feet...
0:29:02 > 0:29:07Quite honestly, it wasn't my idea to have a brainteaser like that.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10It was Maggie Dale, the director.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13She wanted to show that dancers had to think.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18HE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:29:18 > 0:29:21THEY GIGGLE
0:29:23 > 0:29:25'Really did take them by surprise.'
0:29:26 > 0:29:29All right. Do you want another go?
0:29:29 > 0:29:33PIANO PLAYS
0:29:33 > 0:29:36It was in his role as a teacher at the Royal Ballet that Wright
0:29:36 > 0:29:40found himself faced with the mercurial star, Rudolf Nureyev.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45'He arrived at class, ten minutes late.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49'He went up to one of the boys at the barre,
0:29:49 > 0:29:51'said, "You've got my place here." '
0:29:51 > 0:29:54So, I went, "Excuse me, Mr Nureyev.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57"The class is already started, this young man is...
0:29:57 > 0:29:59"Look, there's plenty of space over there."
0:30:00 > 0:30:03And no-one ever dared to speak to him, you see,
0:30:03 > 0:30:05everyone was so in awe of him
0:30:05 > 0:30:09because he's this famous runaway star.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12And he was so amazed that I would even dare to say that.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15And he did, he behaved absolutely perfect,
0:30:15 > 0:30:19he did every exercise and that, and right through the class.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23And it was because, I think, he was pushing people
0:30:23 > 0:30:26because he was just establishing himself as this great star
0:30:26 > 0:30:28and wanted to see how far he'd go
0:30:28 > 0:30:30and he found he couldn't go very far with me,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33so we had a very good relationship, actually.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42By 1965, Wright's family had moved back to London,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45and he took up a guest contract with the BBC,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48to produce studio-based films of contemporary ballets.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00The Sisters was the creation of his friend Kenneth MacMillan.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02It was based on a play by Lorca
0:31:02 > 0:31:05about repressed desires in a family of women.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17'That's the thing I'm most proud of, in my television work.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21'Kenneth had done this in Stuttgart.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26'I decided it would really work rather well on television.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29'So, we got some of the cast from Stuttgart
0:31:29 > 0:31:31'and some from the Royal Ballet.'
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Somehow, everything seemed right
0:31:42 > 0:31:45and Kenneth was in fairly good form too
0:31:45 > 0:31:48and he was keen on it being done.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51And it had Marcia Haydee and Ray Barra,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Monica Mason was in it as the jealous sister.
0:32:03 > 0:32:09We felt like dance actors, because Peter took such great care
0:32:09 > 0:32:13about the cameras and how we were going to be filmed.
0:32:18 > 0:32:19It was wonderful, because, of course,
0:32:19 > 0:32:24they'd built the house and there was an interior and an exterior.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29The wonderful thing about television
0:32:29 > 0:32:32is you can make the eye go to the right place at the right time,
0:32:32 > 0:32:34and that's, I think, what choreography should do
0:32:34 > 0:32:37much, much more on the stage.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40So many times, you're on the stage, there's so much happening,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43it's only on about the fifth time you've seen it,
0:32:43 > 0:32:45you actually get the whole thing.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48Something downstage left, they're handing over some vital piece...
0:32:48 > 0:32:49Oh, yes.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54What's good about it is it's a very strong story.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56It's a very strong narrative and therefore,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59you could get right inside the people's reactions.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04And it's a story you can tell in vision and movement, absolutely.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12These days, narrative ballets, when they do happen,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15they are so complicated and so difficult,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18- you spend it trying to work out... - Who is who.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22And yet, you can only really understand by reading the programme.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24So, why bother?
0:33:24 > 0:33:26The whole thing is to do it,
0:33:26 > 0:33:31communicate the story in movement and dance and everything.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35Frederick Ashton, the great choreographer,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39was impressed by Peter Wright's talents as a storyteller
0:33:39 > 0:33:41and invited him to mount a brand-new production
0:33:41 > 0:33:44of The Sleeping Beauty for the Royal Ballet.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50The Sleeping Beauty had been one of the glories of Covent Garden
0:33:50 > 0:33:54for over 20 years, so the stakes were high.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06'I always found the most tiresome part
0:34:06 > 0:34:09'was when it comes to the big moment,
0:34:09 > 0:34:14'the kiss and waking up and falling in love.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16'That's when you need a pas de deux.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29'As it was, at the Opera House, she wakes up...'
0:34:31 > 0:34:34..looks at him, they all get up and all run forward into a pose.
0:34:34 > 0:34:35Isn't this lovely?
0:34:39 > 0:34:42- I'm being a bit beastly now, but... - HE LAUGHS
0:34:42 > 0:34:48But anyway, I decided and I got, I asked Frederick Ashton,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51"Couldn't he do a pas de deux?"
0:34:51 > 0:34:54I said, "I found the most wonderful music."
0:34:54 > 0:34:57And Fred listened to it and he adored it.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20But the purists weren't keen about it at all.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23They didn't like the fact I'd changed such a major moment.
0:35:24 > 0:35:31And when the next production came, it was...thrown out.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Wright was offered another chance to produce The Sleeping Beauty
0:35:36 > 0:35:38by the Dutch National Ballet,
0:35:38 > 0:35:40who have kept his version in their repertoire.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45He incorporated ideas suggested by his research
0:35:45 > 0:35:48into the original 19th-century choreography by Petipa.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55I've always thought that those two characters,
0:35:55 > 0:36:00Carabosse, the evil side, and the Lilac Fairy, good...
0:36:00 > 0:36:06They should be two symbolic figures and should be dressed accordingly,
0:36:06 > 0:36:07as they were in the original.
0:36:07 > 0:36:13Of course, in the original, the Lilac Fairy didn't dance.
0:36:13 > 0:36:20She was in a longish dress and her main part was mime.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22And the same with Carabosse.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24I wanted to get back to that.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33I do it now all the time, with many productions I've done,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37is to make the two characters equal in power.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45'Peter is producing more or less'
0:36:45 > 0:36:48old classics, one might call them.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53And breathing fresh life into them and really producing them.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57He's great at that.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Some traditions in ballet have, however,
0:37:08 > 0:37:11proved resistant to Peter Wright's ideas.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17Those four beastly cygnets...
0:37:19 > 0:37:20..in Act Two...
0:37:22 > 0:37:24..suddenly came on, and they pranced around the stage.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Nothing to do with the story at all.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I would like, I'm still thinking of it,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33but I think it's a bit late now, to put that same dance,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37it's a brilliant dance they do, brilliant, it brings the house down,
0:37:37 > 0:37:41but it spoils the acts for me, where it could be wonderful
0:37:41 > 0:37:44in a different way they're dressed and everything,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48as an entertainment in Act Three, and it would fit in much better.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55It would be an outcry if I'd just got rid of it.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Everyone loves those cygnets.
0:37:57 > 0:37:58I don't, I think they're...
0:37:58 > 0:38:01I love the dance, everything about it,
0:38:01 > 0:38:03except it doesn't belong to the story.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13In 1970, a wind of change at Covent Garden
0:38:13 > 0:38:17saw Kenneth MacMillan as the new director of the Royal Ballet.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20He brought in Peter Wright as his deputy,
0:38:20 > 0:38:22and to run a much reduced touring company.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Peter Wright was very much his right hand.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30And really, Kenneth was very busy creating.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Yeah, let's just sort Mary's feet out.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35But the person who was in the office was Peter,
0:38:35 > 0:38:37and the person who was available for them,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40for the moans that inevitably we had, was Peter.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44He wanted so much to be director, but he found it very difficult.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50Mainly because he was so involved with his choreography,
0:38:50 > 0:38:54and he did find it very hard to mix the two.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56Good, fine.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59When MacMillan resigned in 1977,
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Wright was passed over as his successor.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05But now, at the age of 50,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07he was promoted to full-time director
0:39:07 > 0:39:09of the Royal Ballet's touring company.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Based at Sadler's Wells, and renamed Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20it grew in size and could again perform such classics as Coppelia -
0:39:20 > 0:39:23danced in Wright's own exuberant production.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28At that time, the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
0:39:28 > 0:39:30performed more than the Royal Ballet.
0:39:30 > 0:39:35And so there was a lot of opportunity to do roles, get ahead.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38And he was a really great director.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40Very approachable.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42Also demanded of the best.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48We tour between 20 and 23 weeks a year.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50It's a hard slog, of course it is.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54But there's never a feeling, really, of the same old routine.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56Someone will be sick,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59and the people whose names are just in brackets on the cast list
0:39:59 > 0:40:01nearly always get a chance to shine.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05And the fact sometimes you have to get up, and at a moment's notice
0:40:05 > 0:40:09get out on that stage and do your thing without too much preparation
0:40:09 > 0:40:11is the best training in the world, in a way.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17I remember my very first tour joining the company
0:40:17 > 0:40:20and going out in September and coming back at Christmas.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24And because nobody in those days really had cars
0:40:24 > 0:40:28and we performed six days a week and travelled on a Sunday...
0:40:28 > 0:40:31I say "travelled on a Sunday" - you TRIED to travel on a Sunday.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33You know, back in the '70s,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37trying to travel on British Rail in the '70s,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40I remember going from here, from Birmingham to Norwich once,
0:40:40 > 0:40:42and it literally took the entire day.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44You know, we had nothing to eat.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47I think the ballet mistress had a packet of digestives.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50You know, they were gone by the time we'd arrived in Norwich.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57In the 1980s, the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet frequently
0:40:57 > 0:40:59toured to all the corners of the world.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05And Wright would often have to leave his wife, Sonya, behind.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Because we had two children,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11she could only very occasionally come out on tour with me.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Sonya was absolutely wonderful, the way she coped with me.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Because I did work incredibly hard
0:41:19 > 0:41:22and I used to get in a state about things.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25She'd say, "For God's sake, Pete, it's only a ballet."
0:41:27 > 0:41:31Which is how she felt about it much more than I did.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34I thought everything was so, so important.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40There are some directors of ballet companies
0:41:40 > 0:41:42who are artistic directors.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Peter was always the director,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48and he saw that as an opportunity
0:41:48 > 0:41:50to be involved in every aspect of what the company did.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53Not just what happened on the stage or happened in the studio,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57but in the wardrobe department, in the press and marketing.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01He checked every single photograph that went on a leaflet.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05He could be quite irritating at times, it has to be said.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07But that is the mark of a true director -
0:42:07 > 0:42:10getting involved in everything.
0:42:10 > 0:42:15Peter was very exacting, not just in how you performed the technique,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18how you behaved, and how you looked.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20I remember doing one of my first big roles
0:42:20 > 0:42:22and I thought I'd done quite well.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25You know, it had gone OK and I was pleased.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28And Peter came down and the first thing he said was,
0:42:28 > 0:42:30"We've got to do something about your eyebrows!"
0:42:30 > 0:42:31He'd always say,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33"You've got to close your mouth, you've got to close your mouth!
0:42:33 > 0:42:35"You can't go around like this... all the time!"
0:42:35 > 0:42:38And he also said, "You look like you're chatting when you smile,"
0:42:38 > 0:42:41and I think that was also about trying to gasp air.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44He said, "Come on, you've got to breathe through the nose."
0:42:44 > 0:42:45So there was always instruction
0:42:45 > 0:42:49on how I looked and how I presented myself.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51It wasn't just about performing well.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56Darcey Bussell was finishing ballet school
0:42:56 > 0:43:00when Peter Wright selected her for the touring company.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04He was impressed by her talent, but not her name.
0:43:04 > 0:43:05I said to her,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Darcey, maybe you should talk to your parents or something
0:43:08 > 0:43:09about perhaps changing your name.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13Erm... OK, so what have you got in mind?
0:43:13 > 0:43:16You know, thinking, oh, I won't try and stand my ground here,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19I'll just ask straight away. And he said, "Russell".
0:43:19 > 0:43:21And I went, Russell? Bussell?
0:43:21 > 0:43:24I don't think that's a big enough change for me - like that!
0:43:24 > 0:43:27And he went, well, at least there's a different meaning.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30I mean, everybody's going to think you must have something attached.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34I said, it's spelled different. It's not a bustle in a costume.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38And so I was able to fight my way through that one and go,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40"No, I'm not changing my name.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42"I understand, but I'm going to stick with it."
0:43:42 > 0:43:44Thank God I was wrong.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46And I was totally wrong.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49Because it's been a very different sort of name
0:43:49 > 0:43:51and it's caught on.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05In 1987, Peter Wright heard by chance that the Royal Opera House
0:44:05 > 0:44:08was planning with the city of Birmingham
0:44:08 > 0:44:11to make the Hippodrome Theatre a new base for his company.
0:44:14 > 0:44:19Your fear was that the city council just wanted to buy a ballet company?
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Buy a ballet company and use it for its own purposes
0:44:22 > 0:44:24of advertising Birmingham
0:44:24 > 0:44:26and all the wonderful culture that was going on
0:44:26 > 0:44:29and use it for big occasions and all that.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35But, anyway, I came up and I talked to the director
0:44:35 > 0:44:40of the theatre, and the chairman. and various other people.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43And I was pleasantly surprised.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48I felt their intentions were honourable, shall we say?
0:44:48 > 0:44:52And they really wanted to have a ballet company,
0:44:52 > 0:44:57and give it all it needed
0:44:57 > 0:45:00to develop and even go further.
0:45:00 > 0:45:05He knew that it's all very well to say, "Agreed."
0:45:05 > 0:45:07But somebody, and it was he,
0:45:07 > 0:45:11was going to have to persuade every single member of the company
0:45:11 > 0:45:15that it made sense for them to agree to stay together
0:45:15 > 0:45:17and come with the company to Birmingham.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22We had a performance of La Fille Mal Gardee, and we were in Oxford.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26Before the show, we were called to the stage at around seven o'clock
0:45:26 > 0:45:31or something, wondering what it was, and I can see us all in that set.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36And Peter said, "You will hear tomorrow that it will be in the news
0:45:36 > 0:45:42"that there's an idea that the company might move to Birmingham."
0:45:42 > 0:45:43And, oh...
0:45:43 > 0:45:50He was very anxious that the company might refuse to go to Birmingham,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53or that some would go and some would say, no, we're staying here.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58I think it was very hard for us all to give that jolly, you know,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01performance of La Fille Mal Gardee, that exuberance that you need.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05Because at that time, Birmingham was a very different city
0:46:05 > 0:46:07to what it is now.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09The audiences were not good.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13When we used to go to Birmingham, it was really hard to fill the houses.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16And so it just felt...
0:46:16 > 0:46:17Why?
0:46:17 > 0:46:20You know, that was it. Really, just why?
0:46:20 > 0:46:23- REPORTER:- Birmingham City Council has already spent £5 million
0:46:23 > 0:46:25renovating the Hippodrome.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28It's to spend another five accommodating Sadler's Wells
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and believes the prestige is worth every penny.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33When I saw this company at work,
0:46:33 > 0:46:35I thought, this is absolutely terrific.
0:46:35 > 0:46:36I'm a bit of a Philistine,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39but I can appreciate the great professionalism,
0:46:39 > 0:46:41the great artistry that make up this company.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43And I think more and more people in Birmingham
0:46:43 > 0:46:45will be going to see them.
0:46:46 > 0:46:51The great day came when we had to go up to Birmingham formally
0:46:51 > 0:46:55to say, "We're here, it's going to happen."
0:46:55 > 0:46:58And Peter and I and Ninette de Valois
0:46:58 > 0:47:00went up on the train.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02Madam didn't want to sit beside the two of us,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06because she really wanted to drive the train.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09She was nearer 90 than 80, you know.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14She was wonderfully cooperative.
0:47:14 > 0:47:15Which is right and proper,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18because it all stems from her, the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
0:47:18 > 0:47:19It really does.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21And her traditions.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27Ninette de Valois, who created the Royal Ballet in 1931,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30was a lifelong force in the history of the company.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32And always an inspiration to Peter Wright,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36from his first encounter with her when he was a teenager.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42I wanted to see the Royal Ballet belong to the whole of England,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44not just one little spot.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46It's happened.
0:47:46 > 0:47:47And for that reason,
0:47:47 > 0:47:51I'm a very, very happy old lady today.
0:47:51 > 0:47:52APPLAUSE
0:47:58 > 0:48:00Hello, welcome.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02Glad to see you again.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06Peter Wright's company, now named Birmingham Royal Ballet,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09moved into their new home in 1990.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18Their first performance was given in the presence of royalty.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27In gratitude to the city of Birmingham,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Wright staged a new production of The Nutcracker -
0:48:30 > 0:48:32the traditional Christmas fantasy ballet.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42In Nutcracker, there is very little original choreography.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46There's the snowflakes, but it's only the floor patterns.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50And of course, there's the grand pas de deux in the last act.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52There are several things,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56but only about, at the most, 10% of the whole ballet.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58So really I guess about 90%,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01and all the production's ideas and effects,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03they're all mine.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09The story of The Nutcracker follows the dream of young Clara,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12whose Christmas toy is transformed into a prince,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16who takes her to the fantasyland of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23Before his Birmingham production,
0:49:23 > 0:49:27Peter Wright had staged a version of The Nutcracker for the Royal Ballet.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33In that production, his aim had been to stay as faithful as possible
0:49:33 > 0:49:35to the 19th-century period setting.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45It's a much more historically-based production.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Much more authentically designed.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Whereas I think the lovely thing about the Birmingham Royal Ballet
0:49:54 > 0:49:57production is that it was designed by John Macfarlane.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59It's much more fantastical.
0:49:59 > 0:50:06Working with a kind of easel painter who also happens to be a stage
0:50:06 > 0:50:11designer, it just brings a whole different kind of imagination to it.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16I was so in harmony with the whole way you painted and also
0:50:16 > 0:50:20I felt I could say anything to you, actually, which is so important.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23- And that has continued, hasn't it?- It has, yes.
0:50:23 > 0:50:24THEY LAUGH
0:50:26 > 0:50:29I think for me, of the three Tchaikovskys,
0:50:29 > 0:50:33the one I never imagined I would do was Nutcracker.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38I wanted the mice to be proper frightening rats, actually,
0:50:38 > 0:50:44preferably, and not little children doing it and I'd never...
0:50:44 > 0:50:47I know the previous one at the Opera House,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51the scale change is extremely, extremely good but, of course,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55they have the lifts and the tree comes out the floor from,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57you know, two, three floors down.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13And I wanted, if possible,
0:51:13 > 0:51:17to take the scale change even further than that.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33So you honestly felt that she was literally down to sitting on
0:51:33 > 0:51:36the fireplace so that she was the same size as
0:51:36 > 0:51:39a rat when it jumped out the fireplace.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03And the third thing, which,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06whenever I'd seen any bits and pieces of Nutcracker,
0:52:06 > 0:52:09I'd always disliked, was that at the beginning of Act Two,
0:52:09 > 0:52:14Clara arrives and sits on her bottom through
0:52:14 > 0:52:17the whole of the act and watches.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26And the minute somebody does that onstage, I think you lose a bit of
0:52:26 > 0:52:29your audience, because you go, "Oh, I know what's going to happen
0:52:29 > 0:52:32"now, how many diverts do we have to go?"
0:52:32 > 0:52:36- I'd said all this to Peter.- Hmm.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41In Wright's Birmingham production, Clara now
0:52:41 > 0:52:45no longer just watches the action, but participates in the dances.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55And I think instantly that changes the goalposts, because you're
0:52:55 > 0:53:00saying, "How can we take Clara and travel through it
0:53:00 > 0:53:03- "and hold the audience with you?"- Yes.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06Because otherwise, my feeling is,
0:53:06 > 0:53:12that the tip into little episodic numbers, which is,
0:53:12 > 0:53:16of course, what the scores are, and the thing about Peter's productions,
0:53:16 > 0:53:21all of them, they explain the story so that you care about it.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33Later today, the ballet world will say goodbye to one of its
0:53:33 > 0:53:35greatest figures - Sir Peter Wright,
0:53:35 > 0:53:40the director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet is retiring after 18 years.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Wright was obliged to retire following a serious illness,
0:53:44 > 0:53:48myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that particularly
0:53:48 > 0:53:51affects speech and the ability to swallow food.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55You could die of it and a lot of people did.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58I was lucky, because I didn't have it very badly.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05And it was the most ghastly period of my life, because it...
0:54:05 > 0:54:10I was in the hospital for three months.
0:54:10 > 0:54:18He looked very poorly, very frail and of course was not well for
0:54:18 > 0:54:20a long time after he had recovered.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24Sonya used to come nearly every day.
0:54:24 > 0:54:29She managed to make me feel I wasn't really very ill at all.
0:54:31 > 0:54:38She was the perfect wife and lover and I remember her all the time.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41And I always will.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45I don't know anything about the future after death,
0:54:45 > 0:54:46what happens then.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51I hope I meet her again, but I'm a bit doubtful about that.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Peter Wright handed over the directorship
0:54:59 > 0:55:01of Birmingham Royal Ballet to David Bintley,
0:55:01 > 0:55:05but he eventually made a full recovery and often returns
0:55:05 > 0:55:07to the city to oversee his productions,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09including The Nutcracker.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13- Good.- I think, just a sec, I'd like you to hug.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18That's it! Say, "Oh, I love you, Daddy! Grandpa..."
0:55:18 > 0:55:20Whatever it is. Yes.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25And somehow... She's too near. Can't you jump from a bit further away?
0:55:26 > 0:55:30No, you see, you're... I want you to just...
0:55:30 > 0:55:34Can we just look at the crossings?
0:55:34 > 0:55:37One and two and three and four and five and six and seven
0:55:37 > 0:55:42and eight and one and two and three and four, five and six... Boom.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45That's it. Good. Hug him. Oh, that's it.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Maybe he shouldn't step down as director because, my God,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50he's got more energy than I have.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55But he's got an extraordinary capacity for work
0:55:55 > 0:56:01and an interest in what still goes on in the ballet.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03Oh, terrible diagonal.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06He really has dedicated his life to this.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11He's still takes rehearsals, he still jets about setting
0:56:11 > 0:56:16these works all over the place and, well, it's an extraordinary thing.
0:56:16 > 0:56:17Good.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21Every time he comes here, it's a warmth around the building.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24You know, because I think it means so much to him, this company.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28It's wonderful for him to kind of pass on
0:56:28 > 0:56:30so much knowledge with his ballets.
0:56:33 > 0:56:39Here you are, 26 years later, rehearsing Nutcracker in the studio.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43- Yes.- Do you feel it still looks the same?- Better.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48From his early years as a dancer,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52through his work as a choreographer, a teacher,
0:56:52 > 0:56:58television director, running a great British touring company,
0:56:58 > 0:57:04and creating enduring productions of the classics, Sir Peter Wright
0:57:04 > 0:57:08has proved himself a master of the ballet in many forms.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12But of all his achievements,
0:57:12 > 0:57:15he is most proud of Birmingham Royal Ballet,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19who perform his Nutcracker almost every year at Christmas.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38This is the opening of our Nutcracker season.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43It also happens to be Sir Peter Wright's 90th birthday.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45APPLAUSE
0:57:48 > 0:57:53And he's chosen to spend his birthday with us. Sir Peter Wright.
0:58:05 > 0:58:10I've had a most wonderful time here. Wonderful.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13And thank you, all of you for coming,
0:58:13 > 0:58:18and David for bringing this company up and up and up
0:58:18 > 0:58:21and creating a wonderful organisation.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24Thank you. Thank you very much.