Monica Mason OBE

Monday 13th November 2006
Crown Court Church of Scotland Hall, London W.C.2.

Our distinguished guest tonight was our Vice President Monica Mason, Director of The Royal Ballet, standing in at very short notice for Tony Hall, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, who was unable to be with us due to late return from his trip to China. Michael Broderick, Associate Vice President, welcomed Miss Mason and thanked her on behalf of members for so kindly agreeing to talk to us.

Michael Broderick welcomed Monica by listing the awards from the Dance Critics Circle to the Royal Ballet, at which the company swept the board. Awards went to Rupert Pennefather and Marianela Nuñez, for the revival of "Sylvia" choreographed by Ashton and C. Newton, the Royal Ballet won the best repertoire award and a special award went to Monica Mason. Monica spoke of her feelings on receiving this prize, which commemorates Dame Ninette de Valois, and how honoured she was to receive an award in the name of Madam, who set such a wonderful standard.

Monica then told us about the unveiling of a special plaque at Madam's house in Barnes, at which LBC was represented, and where Monica made a speech before the assembled company adjourned to a nearby pub.

Discussing the award for the RB repertoire, which included a triple bill of "A Wedding Bouquet", "Les Noces" and "Requiem", Monica spoke about the special qualities of "A Wedding Bouquet" and "La Fête Étrange", and the difficulties in reviving these two ballets in particular, which have a unique and subtle atmosphere. It did not help when it was found that the backcloth for "La Fête Étrange" had suffered water damage, and a compromise had to be worked out with the lighting to disguise this. Monica knew Andrée Howard and described her way of working with dancers, which involved subtle inflections and suggestions of movement, very difficult for young dancers to understand. The late Pirmin Trecu, who created the role of the Country Boy in "La Fête" had coached the dancers in this revival but, sadly, he died in the summer. We all hope to see this ballet again some time.

Speaking of awards, Ben Stevenson of Houston Ballet presented one on behalf of Booz Allen & Hamilton, Management Consultants, to Steven McRae and this included two return tickets to New York and a sculpture. Lauren Cuthbertson also distinguished herself by winning the Silver award at Varna, the highest award to a female dancer, and it was the first time a British dancer had entered. Lauren wanted to do this in memory of her late teacher Anatoli Grigoriev, and organised everything herself, including the complicated documentation.

Regarding the current repertoire, Monica was thrilled that Antonio Pappano had agreed to conduct the triple bill ("Stravinsky Violin Concerto", "Voluntaries" and "Sinfonietta") as he loves ballet and hopes to do more of it. "The Sleeping Beauty" is at present in the repertoire and is to be televised, but she was sorry to announce that Johan Kobborg was injured and not able to partner Alina Cojocaru, which means changing around partners and making adjustments according to matinee and evening performances. This is a very busy week with a triple bill for the company, including two new works by Christopher Wheeldon and Wayne McGregor.

Philip Mosley deals with the logistics of arranging the schedule for these productions, which is extremely complicated, and Monica suggested that we invite him along to tell us about what he does. We have noted this suggestion. Monica told us about the organisation of productions in her day, when they had so little studio space and never enough time, whereas nowadays there are several studios full of dancers (some appearing in two ballets in the same programme) with choreographers present, plus set designers and composers, all of whom may have very different working methods. She described the music for the new ballets; Michael Nyman for Christopher Wheeldon, and Joby Talbot and The White Stripes for Wayne McGregor. Monica spoke of the "buzz" created by having these creative artists present all involved in new work and looking forward to the first night.

Monica then told us about the company tour in the summer (which she did not have to organise as planning tours is the province of Anthony Russell-Roberts). The itinerary was not as originally planned and had to be changed, due to circumstances beyond the control of the Royal Ballet. After the USA, luckily the chance arose to go to Spain due to a last minute cancellation there, and they played in a new theatre in Escorial, which was formerly the palace and monastery lived in by Philip II of Spain and contains great art treasures. Tamara Rojo had the opportunity to dance in Spain for the first time with the Royal Ballet, in "Manon". The company stayed in Madrid and had to get adjusted to the late night habits of the Spaniards and they enjoyed the experience very much. Their last performance of "Romeo and Juliet" coincided with the World Cup Final, and some of the local Spanish extras were so enthralled by this on TV that they forgot to come on stage and were extremely sorry when they realised that they had done!

After Spain the company went on to Turkey and Monica stressed how important this was for them because Madam had launched the Turkish Ballet and always showed great interest in the development of this company. Some of the Turkish dancers had been to London and took classes with the Royal Ballet, where it was noticed how happy Madam was in relating to them. It has been said that she felt a special affinity with the Turks, because she thought they were so like the Irish in character, and she always loved visiting the country and encouraging their dancers and students at the school in Istanbul.

In answer to a question, Monica told us about her first days at the Upper School and how much she enjoyed the chance to dance every day. She did notice a difference between the "Colonials", such as herself, and British dancers in the school, probably due to the fact that the Colonials had come such vast distances to study and appeared more determined to get into the company than the other students. She did enjoy her time at the school very much. She commented on the fact that dancers today in companies all around the world know each other and keep in touch on the internet, so news is passed on as it happens. Today's dancers speak many languages and have friends everywhere - they are an international community.

Michael said he admires Monica for leading such a highly organised life with hardly any free time and no sign of strain. However, we all considered she deserved some quiet time at home after her description of the noise levels surrounding her office in the Opera House. She described working to a background of buskers who know only five songs, the very loud carousel in the Piazza and all the other activities outside the office window all the time she is at work, including weekends.

Finally, the decor for the revival of "The Sleeping Beauty" was discussed, with particular reference to the reinterpretation of the Oliver Messel designs by Peter Farmer. Monica pointed out that taste has changed since 1946 and adjustments made for modem eyes in adapting the colour palette. Peter Farmer retained the shapes of the costumes, though no precise record of the original design could be clarified. However, "Sylvia" was much easier to reproduce because the Ironside brothers had made a "Bible" of the ballet with exact colour swatches and detailed drawings. She was most grateful to the staff of the Theatre Museum who helped with assembling the material for "The Sleeping Beauty".

The evening ended with our thanks to Monica for so kindly giving up some of her precious free time to come and speak to us, and the presentation of a gift by Michael Broderick.