Leticia Dias, William Bracewell, Patricio Revé and Natalia Osipova in I Now, I Then in Woolf Works [Johan Persson]

RETURNING to London, Woolf Works, a three-act contemporary ballet – originally choreographed by Wayne McGregor in 2015 with a score by Max Richter – captures some of Virginia Woolf’s artistic spirit.

I now, I then (from Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway) unfolds over a single day and alternates between two narratives: a society hostess preparing for a party and a shell-shocked war veteran, Septimus (Marcelino Sambé). Splitting Clarissa into two roles – the older (Natalia Osipova) and younger (Sae Maeda) – allows their timelines to blur. The haunting piece is about memory, time passing, mental fragility and the shadow of war, accentuated by Richter’s evocative score, Ravi Deepres’ film montage of London and Chris Ekers’ sound design.

Becomings (inspired by Orlando) follows someone who journeys through three centuries without ageing and changes gender along the way. Richter combines orchestral and electronic variations to give a futuristic spin. The male duets are mesmerising, and Lucy Carter’s lighting and the laser design by We Not I are extraordinary. Yet despite the visual brilliance, this 30-minute segment feels oddly distancing.

The third movement, Tuesday (from The Waves) is perhaps the most hypnotic of the three. Featuring Osipova, William Bracewell and Claire Calvert, the company conjures the movement and force of waves while also portraying Woolf’s drowning in the River Ouse. The section is preceded by a devastating recording of the letter Woolf wrote to her husband Leonard shortly before she took her own life in March 1941.

Enormous collaborative effort has gone into this production and it shows. Woolf Works is certainly captivating. Though sleek and sure-footed, the ballet’s dazzling precision occasionally obscures the darker undertones of Woolf’s themes.

Until February 13
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