Undoubtedly best know through the television drama series created by Sally Wainwright, Gentleman Jack is the story of a powerful Yorkshire businesswoman from the 1830s. The 19th century was not a time known for its liberal-minded, easy-going attitudes to women in general and certainly not women who preferred other women as their life partners.

Our main protagonist, Jack, is based on Anne Lister, the English diarist and land-owning businesswoman who was dubbed "the first modern lesbian". Lister was from a minor landowning family at Shibden in Calderdale, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and was widely known - probably unkindly - as 'Gentleman Jack'.

The ballet follows Anne's relationships with Mariana Lawson, who breaks Anne's heart by marrying local landowner Charles Lawton, and Anne Walker, a young heiress with a delicate disposition who becomes infected with Jack's vivacity and enthusiasm for life.

Choreographed by the multi-award-winning Annabelle Lopez Ochoa with Dance Artist and singer/songwriter Jemima Brown as Choreography Consultant as part of a majority female artistic team that also includes Sally Wainwright. The ballet is performed to newly composed live music composed by Peter Salem.

The Music

Peter Salem is a busy boy, dividing his time between film, TV and ballet, and his score is an indivisible part of Gentleman Jack : delicate string harmonics set the opening atmosphere while a bluesy plucked double bass is a perfect accompaniment to the bouncing, purposeful, unstoppable route-marching walk of Anne Lister.

It was a delight to see that live musicians were in the orchestra pit and under the baton of Daniel Parkinson and leader Winona Fifield.

The Dancers

There's an element for a whole-cast performance that should not be underestimated in this production: Anne Lister's words from her diary are in constant motion on the bodies of the Northern Ballet dancers; Rachel Gillespie as Ann Walker is charming and captivating; Seaka Shirai as Mariana Lawson - who remained regretful of her decision to have a conventional life - showed so much emotion, but it was Gemma Coutts who deserved the most credit for her dominating performance as Anne Lister. She barely left the stage throughout the production and completely encapsulated the wit, strength and vulnerability of Anne.

The Set

There's a clever use of technology in Gentleman Jack with moveable book cases being flipped around occasionally to reveal large video screens - with four of them being coordinated to show parts of the same scene. By this elegant trick we were whisked from late Regency drawing rooms to wind-swept moors and back to intimate dinners around the family table, with the choreography of the set being every bit as smooth as the main performances.

My View

All opinions are, of course, personal, but I would be amazed to find anybody who thought this production was anything less than exceptional. The dancers, choreographers, musicians and the production team were all on top form, and Gentleman Jack is, of course, a great story. This looks set to become a huge success for Northern Ballet, and quite rightly so.

Highly recommended.

Gentleman Jack continues at these venues:
Leeds Grand Theatre
Sheffield Lyceum Theatre
Nottingham Theatre Royal
London Sadler's Well
Norwich Theatre Royal
Salford The Lowry
Bradford Alhambra Theatre

See https://northernballet.com/gentleman-jack for details.