The best thing that you can say about this version of Carmen is that it begins and ends with a terrible trumpet solo! It sets the tone of what is to come, for this is not Carmen as most people will remember it from Bizet’s haunting opera music. Christopher Benstead’s attempt to capture the spirit of Spain is not fulfilled and Robert North’s choreography barely touches the movement of the flamenco. You wonder if they both should have gone and experienced a Latin American ballroom competition? This ballet by Scottish Ballet, with its workbench stage props and expedient lighting did not do much for the reputation of a company that is striving to make its name better known throughout the UK. The use of a spot light shining straight at the audience did not do much for the health of people who suffer from migraine.

The dancers did a grand job with what they were given to work with, but the choreography was not memorable enough to do justice to the two principle dancers Ivan Divev as Don José and Lorna Scott as Carmen. The girls of the chorus did justice to their dresses, but the men did not come over with the masculinity required of the military, and long hair tied back in a bun hardly gives the impression of a soldier. A man with a long pole gave the impression of a gondolier in Venice, not someone dispatching a bull at a bull fight. At one point in the evenings events one wondered if there was going to be any reference to bullfighting, but it was squeezed in at the end before Don José was garrotted. It brought a timely end to the evening.

It would be nice to see what Scottish Ballet could really do if they filled their large trailer with first rate stage props and brought a first rate production on tour with a well rehearsed orchestra. © BA

“Carmen” is in Hull from the 6th to the 8th of June, 2002 and then continues a nation wide tour.