0:00:18 > 0:00:22Tonight on this famous stage, witness an extraordinary creation...
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Not just of a famous and fearful creature,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28but of an electrifying new ballet.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32A classic tale comes vividly to life in music and dance...
0:00:32 > 0:00:35As the Royal Ballet presents an exciting new co-commission
0:00:35 > 0:00:39with San Francisco Ballet - Frankenstein.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42It's the brainchild of the choreographer Liam Scarlett,
0:00:42 > 0:00:44the artist-in-residence at the Royal Ballet.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48At 30, he's far the youngest person ever to create
0:00:48 > 0:00:51a full-length main stage production for the company.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55Frankenstein has gained phenomenal success.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58I think with Frankenstein, with Dracula, Jekyll & Hyde,
0:00:58 > 0:01:03they've been spun into something that the public can fear
0:01:03 > 0:01:05and admire and get drawn into.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10The stereotype around Frankenstein has gone so far from the book
0:01:10 > 0:01:14that what I really want to do is bring it back to how Shelley saw it.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20I want to show the public what Frankenstein is really about.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26It was a time of invention and discovery
0:01:26 > 0:01:29when anything seemed possible, and this evening,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33making the impossible seem easy is a formidable team of dancers.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35Federico Bonelli stars
0:01:35 > 0:01:37as the pioneering scientist Victor Frankenstein,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41with Laura Morera as his fiancee Elizabeth Lavenza.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45And Steven McRae takes the role of the Creature
0:01:45 > 0:01:48that Frankenstein brings to life one dark and stormy night.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The beginning of the ballet starts with the childhood of
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Victor Frankenstein and the introduction of Elizabeth Lavenza.
0:01:59 > 0:02:00She's very kind,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03one of those people that is very warm and everyone really
0:02:03 > 0:02:06kind of loves her and she just lights up the room.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12She was adopted by the Frankenstein family and she becomes
0:02:12 > 0:02:14very close to Victor Frankenstein.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20Victor is interested in science and how things work and the unknown.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Science was really moving forward and there was
0:02:26 > 0:02:29a sense then, maybe anything was possible.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32I think famous scientists would actually make
0:02:32 > 0:02:36a performance demonstrating the latest scientific discoveries.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Just before Victor goes to university to study medicine
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and science and alchemy and all of the brilliant new things
0:02:45 > 0:02:49that the world has to offer, his mother dies.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I would say that he is, in essence,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59maybe a little kid that cannot accept that his mother
0:02:59 > 0:03:01is not around any more,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05which instigates his desire to revive a dead body.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09The Creature is not human.
0:03:09 > 0:03:15The image of a human, but doesn't possess perhaps the mental
0:03:15 > 0:03:18or emotional capacity that a human has.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19Ready, and...
0:03:22 > 0:03:25One, three, five, six...
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Victor feels repulsion towards the Creature.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31And I just see him as, "Please, love me, love me, love me."
0:03:31 > 0:03:36He can't understand why Victor would love Elizabeth but won't love me.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39"I'm the one he created. Why wouldn't you love me?"
0:03:44 > 0:03:48You know, writing music is always a struggle because you're kind of
0:03:48 > 0:03:50creating something out of nothing.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Having a story always helps because you know
0:03:54 > 0:03:57your kind of emotional trajectory.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08There are definitely themes and kinds of music associated with
0:04:08 > 0:04:14the different characters that come back and transform and progress.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20I wanted to find a musical vocabulary that was
0:04:20 > 0:04:24comfortable for me but also would not be anachronistic to the story.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30The fear of the unknown is a huge element in this piece.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34You think you're going in one direction and then one note
0:04:34 > 0:04:39or one step can put you off balance and switch you around in a second.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44I've been in the Royal Ballet for 21 years, coming up,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48and this is the highlight of my career.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52I've immersed myself in this project for nearly three years now
0:04:52 > 0:04:55and it is a labour of pure love.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59That's what you want when you are a ballet dancer,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02you want to have new roles created anew.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Obviously you want to dance all the great classics but that would not
0:05:05 > 0:05:08be enough, you want to do the one that in the future
0:05:08 > 0:05:10will be considered as classics.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14There's a pressure on me for every piece - I want to do the best I can.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19My work is my passion and my pride and I love what I do.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32APPLAUSE
0:05:55 > 0:05:57SCORE BEGINS
0:40:37 > 0:40:38MACHINE CRACKLES
0:56:26 > 0:56:28APPLAUSE
0:56:39 > 0:56:41SCORE BEGINS
1:11:07 > 1:11:09APPLAUSE
1:41:02 > 1:41:04APPLAUSE
1:55:56 > 1:55:58APPLAUSE
2:07:43 > 2:07:45GUNSHOT
2:09:11 > 2:09:14CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
2:10:49 > 2:10:51CHEERING
2:11:49 > 2:11:51CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
2:13:16 > 2:13:18APPLAUSE
2:13:48 > 2:13:49CHEERING