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The Arts Intel Report

Mayerling by Sir Kenneth MacMillan

Dancers perform Mayerling in London.

Oct 5 – Nov 30, 2022
Bow St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD, UK

“A greatly talented choreographer is taking risks,” wrote dance critic Arlene Croce of Kenneth MacMillan and his Mayerling, created for the Royal Ballet in 1978. This three-act study of royal privilege and pathology, with not two or three pas de deux but seven (!), tells the story of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary, who ended it all in a hunting lodge, in a suicide pact with his mistress, Mary Vetsera. Designs are by MacMillan’s frequent collaborator Nicholas Georgiadis. Company men dancing the lead role of Rudolf, who is hardly ever offstage, include Ryoichi Hirano, Steven McRae, Vadim Muntagirov, Matthew Ball, and Marcelino Sambé. —Laura Jacobs

Photo: the Royal Ballet