The Silver Rose, 2010’s highly-anticipated curtain-raiser, is a lavish ballet that exudes opulence and style. We spoke to Tony award-winning set and costume designer Roger Kirk, whose previous work includes musicals and opera such as Dusty, The Boy from Oz and Opera Australia’s Manon, about what it’s like to bring the ballet home to Melbourne.
Is this the first time you’ve worked with Graeme Murphy?
No, I did a ballet with Graeme for The Australian Ballet called Meander, but that was about 20 years ago. So it had been a while.
What is the background to your involvement in The Silver Rose?
I’d actually just done a production of the opera Der Rosenkavalier for the Wellington Festival a few years earlier, so I was already familiar with the story. Graeme came over and explained that he wanted to set this ballet at the turn of the century, so he already had that sort of image of what he wanted to do. And after a little bit of discussion I threw a few ideas at him, and that’s sort of how it kicked it off.
What was your main inspiration for the set design?
About six months before Graeme approached me to do the ballet, I had been to Hungary and I’d stayed at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel in Budapest. It was an Art Nouveau palace that had been converted into a hotel. The entrance foyer had this glass roof over it and I went: ‘Wow! This is a fabulous set!’ And so when Graeme said ‘Art Nouveau’, I said, ‘That’s my inspiration!’
The look of the ballet, particularly the first act, seems to be heavily inspired by the work of artist Gustav Klimt. How did that come about?
It’s always really difficult when people ask you how things evolve because things are thrown at you. Graeme might have said, ‘A bit Art Nouveau, a bit Klimt,’ and you just take it, you grab that bit and you run with it! So I used the Klimt in the curtains and in her dress, which was like a dead steal of his painting of the girl in the gold dress. And so then, when the Marschallin gets dressed [in Act 1], that painting is actually recreated on stage.
Are there any particularly tricky costume changes the dancers have to contend with in this ballet?
No. There’s really nothing like we had in Dusty for instance –there were thousands, that poor girl! In The Silver Rose there are a few things that we have to slip over the top, but there are no split-second changes.
Can you tell us a bit about where you sourced the fabrics for the costumes?
Well, when you’re in Europe everything’s mainly ordered from catalogues and books, but we did have one bit of fabric for a coat that came out of Turkey, I think. But then I had to chop that up when I saw what Graeme had choreographed – I had to make it more danceable! But the little panels down the front of Sophie’s ball gown, I had those beaded in India.
What was your main goal for the set design?
What I’ve tried to do is give you this really crisp, white set that will transform easily into the three particular acts. So from this white set, by introducing different [lighting] colours and costume combinations, you’re going to get three different looks out of the one atmosphere.
Can you talk a little about what it was like to work as a part of an all-Australian creative team (choreographer Graeme Murphy, creative associate Janet Vernon and composer Carl Vine) to create a ballet in Europe?
It was an interesting thing that the music was Australian, Graeme was Australian, I was Australian and yet we were doing [a ballet based on the European opera] Der Rosenkavalier in the home of Strauss and giving it another slant.
I think that because we have all worked internationally, I’d like to think that as a creative team we are international players. So it doesn’t really matter if you’re doing it in Sydney, New York, Munich or London, you’re applying your trade to an international standard.
How did you feel when you first saw The Silver Rose performed in Munich?
When you do shows, they get on stage and it all comes together and you go, ‘Oh wow, this is great’, you know? And not every show you do you think it’s really fabulous – I mean, you think you’ve done a good job. But sometimes you get goosebumps and you go, ‘Oh my god, this is really fabulous!’ And I really felt that about The Silver Rose.
The Australian Ballet performs The Silver Rose in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in 2010
fascinating to hear from a little-heard about component of the creative team. the designs are stunning and I can’t wait to see the show!
We saw the full dress rehearsal last night in Brisbane. It was just beautiful. The sets are perfect and the costumes are stunning. Congratulations Roger Kirk.
Congratulations Graeme and Roger for a brilliant evening of wonderful ballet….and to the dancers who interpreted the story so beautifully. What an incredible change you have made to bring ballet into the modern vernacular! I wish I could see it again…the whole performance just grows on you!! The more I think of it, the more I want to see your clever innovative and extraordinary work again….please come to Brisbane again…soon!!!
Congratulations Roger. The sets and costumes were absolutely fabulous. I was entranced with the whole performance. The dancers were very expressive and talented. Love to see it again.