{"id":700881,"date":"2026-01-16T23:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T23:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/700881\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T23:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T23:20:24","slug":"akram-khans-giselle-london-coliseum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/700881\/","title":{"rendered":"AKRAM KHAN’S GISELLE, London Coliseum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ud83c\udfad NEW! UK Theatre Newsletter<\/p>\n

\n Get all the top news & discounts for UK & beyond.\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019\"5s only four days since the sugar rush of Aaron S. Watkin\u2019s Nutcracker wrapped up a run of forty performances. Frothy and colourful, it is in stark contrast to Akram Khan\u2019s Giselle, a work nearly ten years old that is the closest thing the company has to a signature work. It has toured across several continents since then and only improves with every viewing, each time more absorbing than the last, each detail more acute. The hypnotic choreography, the sincere storytelling sits within the bones of these dancers, and their full commitment to the work goes a long way to making this such a modern masterpiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfad NEW! UK Theatre Newsletter<\/p>\n

\n Get all the top news & discounts for UK & beyond.\n <\/p>\n

Bleak and dark, Khan\u2019s version is set within a community of migrant factory workers (the Outcasts), their environment confined by a dense and imposing wall that separates them from a life beyond. The factory has closed, restless and discontented, the group functions only as entertainment for the Landlord and his wealthy family. You won\u2019t find any jolly harvest shenanigans here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond the central performances, the mechanical unison of the corps de ballet and Vincenzo Lamagna clanking score that crackles with tension, it\u2019s an engrossing and fully coherent piece of work. The lighting, music and choreography all coming together to pack an emotional punch. The mood switching from thundering to lilting in a breath as we see Giselle and Albrecht fall is love under Tim Yip\u2019s sunlit stage, they dance a pas de deux that wanders tenderly across the stage.<\/p>\n

Emily Suzuki starts out as a swaggering Giselle, full of vitality and zest before she is so cruelly wronged by James Streeter\u2019s conflicted Albrecht. In an early scene, the Outcasts dance between them, forming a barrier to keep them separate, they jump and run to catch one another, playful as they go. Suzuki is fuelled by love, floating above the action and the heaviness of the other Outcasts. She\u2019s a gutsy, gritty Giselle with little regard for authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later, she is brittle and broken from her turmoil. In the mad scene her body spasms, ugly and angular, pulsating with grief, before she is finally revealed lifeless in Hilarion\u2019s arms against the imposing revolving door. She gives an engaging performance but can still afford to go bigger in some of the big choreographic moments, when Lamagna\u2019s score is at its most climactic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, I remember finding the long moments of silence awkward and frustrating, but it\u2019s clear now they are heavy with drama, which has no doubt been honed over time too. There is never quite silence, a fizz or a crackle wracks up the tension, the crash of a wave gives a vivid reminder of the outside world, all creating a cinematic quality.<\/p>\n

Ken Suruhashi is a dynamic and agile Hilarion (Giselle\u2019s would-be-lover), sharp and instinctive. In a predominantly still opening scene, his sudden jerky, urgent movements are striking, taking easy command of the stage. Later he is full of bluster and bravado as the Outcasts dance for the Landlord.<\/p>\n

Isabelle Brouwers remains an ice-cool Bathilde, a role she knows well. The entrance of the landlords is perhaps one of my favourite scenes in a modern ballet. So uncomfortably slow, the costumes so ostentatious, (the landlady\u2019s dress always stealing the show). Brouwers has mastered the posture and stage presence of the regal role. I love the knowing way she drops her glove in front of Giselle and how she commands attention with just a tilt of her head.<\/p>\n

All this and arguably it\u2019s the corps de ballet who are the stars of the act with fast and furious feet in the repeated fast skips across the stage, before breathing as one in the mournful mad scene, they envelop Giselle in a blanket of sorrow. A word too for Giselle\u2019s friends who lead the pack expressively, Carolyne Galvao\u2019s small but spritely figure is the pick of the crop.<\/p>\n

Act II is less impactful, more eerie and affecting, with the vision of ghostly Wilis (workers seeking revenge). We see less momentum than before the interval but the image of these women all bourr\u00e9eing en pointe in unison, striking their canes with their hair wild is pure horror that lingers long in the memory. The storytelling, for my money, is not as lucid as in Act I but the key moments are all there. The Wilis\u2019 brutal disposal of Hilarion, and the final image of Myrtha (an ethereal but no nonsense Emma Hawes) guiding Giselle away from Albrecht into darkness is still a quietly devastating conclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

English National Ballet have revisited Khan\u2019s Giselle many times over the last ten years and surely will again in the next ten. It may not be for everyone, the darkly lit stage and unique soundscape will be quite the jump for ballet purists, but you\u2019ll struggle to find a more creative and exhilarating evening of dance drama than this.<\/p>\n

English National Ballet as Wilis in Akram Khan\u2019s Giselle \u00a9 Photography by ASH<\/p>\n

Akram Khan’s Giselle runs at the London Coliseum until 18 January 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reader Reviews<\/p>\n

To post a comment, you must register<\/a> and login<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udfad NEW! UK Theatre Newsletter Get all the top news & discounts for UK & beyond. It\u2019s only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-700881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115907344713640515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}