With the opening of “Creature,” English National Ballet quenches a three-year-long thirst. It had been 30 years since their previous engagement in Chicago when the British ballet company arrived in 2019 with Akram Khan’s landmark production of “Giselle.” The past three years have felt nearly as long, and patrons eagerly anticipated this exquisite troupe’s return with a new Khan ballet called “Creature.”
“Creature” continues through Saturday at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance.
There is the question of whether lightning can strike twice in the same place. If “Creature” suffers at all, it might be from expectation. Comparing “Creature” with “Giselle” — easily one of the best works this critic has seen in a decade — is perhaps justified when you look at the two side-by-side. The designs, choreography and the story share similarities. But even with Khan and his artistic team’s clear aesthetic entrenchment (which, by the way, is consistently gorgeous), “Creature” deserves a life of its own.
The two-act ballet (which until now had not been seen outside England) is set in a dystopian present time with principal dancer Jeffrey Cirio as the central character, called Creature. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” echoes throughout the piece, though it is unclear if Cirio’s Creature is a man, a monster or some hybrid of the two.
Drawing further inspiration from Georg Büchner’s “Woyzeck,” the Creature is seemingly held captive, relegated to pointlessly cleaning the floors and walls of his sparsely appointed, cavernous cell. He is joined by two others, Andres (Victor Prigent) and Marie (Erina Takahashi), while he intermittently undergoes military-style conditioning and a cruel series of physiological and psychological tests by the Doctor (Stina Quagebeur).
The narrative moves in and out of consciousness here, and it’s easy to get a little lost in the swirls of military exercises as Cirio is joined by a corps de ballet dressed in costume and designer Tim Yip’s zip-up onesies akin to elegant moon suits. On occasion, these cadets envelop the Creature, and he is gradually persuaded to join their ranks, even as every cell in his body periodically convulses in anguish. Cirio’s recurring movement motif demonstrates this duality: In one moment, he snaps into a regal fifth position, knee popped and broad-chested as if he had just finished the “Don Quixote” pas de deux; in the next, Creature is nearly inhuman as tides ripple through his now hunched over chest and liquefied arms and legs.
For what, exactly, is Creature preparing? Outside his clapboard, drafty lair — the scant trappings of which include just a table and bucket of water — appears to be a frigid Arctic landscape. In Vincenzo Lamagna’s sound score, we hear distorted bits from President Richard Nixon’s 1969 conversation with Apollo 11 astronauts, beeps and countdowns, startling whispers vocalizing Creature’s delusions and deconstructions of Maurice Ravel’s “Boléro,” magically intertwined orchestrations and audio playback led by maestro Gavin Sutherland.
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Having used up our resources elsewhere, they embark on what I imagine to be the modern mission to make inhospitable environments hospitable. While that is a very contemporary conundrum, I don’t have to tell you that exploration, colonization and manifest destiny are hardly new concepts.
To quote that Nixon speech, “Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man’s world.” Again and again throughout time, man takes ownership over that which he believes he has discovered, as if by virtue of being there, it is now his. That a critical mass could embrace such a mission is all too relevant today, on the same day that Russia has once again invaded Ukraine.
Shelley and Büchner, and, by extension, Khan, also deal with a kind of psychological sovereignty. Creature is poked and prodded, coerced and repeatedly brought to his breaking point. In exercising their free will, the Doctor and Major (Fabian Reimair, who portrays the military captain) strip Creature of his.
And what of Marie’s free will? She is a Cinderella-type character who spends most of this ballet aimlessly mopping the floor. Creature is in love with her — an excuse for a few exquisite pas de deux. Major, looking to prove his manhood, or something, attempts to overpower and rape Marie. Infuriated by her refusal, Major strangles her. The ballet ends with Creature dancing with Marie’s limp, lifeless body — a heartbreaking and stunning image backed by a heart-rending, sparsely orchestrated aria played by a few of the Chicago Philharmonic’s strings.
One could ask if we really need another ballet subjugating women. Arguably, yes. While most of “Creature” is subversive and nonlinear, there is no mistake about what’s happening to Marie. True, Cirio and Takahashi’s final duet romanticizes Creature’s grief, but Khan breaks from ballet’s canonical roots by neither downplaying nor glorifying misogyny. After all, “Creature” is about taking control over that which does not belong to you. The consequences here could not be clearer, with the actors and audience collectively realizing that the only way to exert absolute power over something is to destroy it.
Review: English National Ballet presents “Creature”
When: Through Saturday
Where: Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Tickets: $35-$140 at 312-334-7777 and www.harristheaterchicago.org
