Northern Ballet’s Merlin – Leeds Grand Theatre

Composer: Grant Olding

Director/Choreographer: Drew McOnie

Northern Ballet Theatre’s revival of Drew McOnie’s ballet, Merlin, is a magical delight. Heralding the start of ‘spooky season’, this is a family friendly piece with entrancing staging and choreography to make for a wonderful piece of story-telling.

Opening mysteriously with an illuminated spinning ring, the stage is set for a liaison between Helios, the Sun God and The Lady of the Lake. This results in a glowing orb of light descending to earth, only to be realised in infant form as their offspring, Merlin (Kevin Poeung). Discovered by The Blacksmith (Amber Lewis), she takes him as her son and amongst the machinery and furnaces of her trade, raises him.

Rendered with equal measures of tenderness and exasperation, in common with any mother, the relationship between the Poeung and Lewis is beautifully expressed. Presenting him with Excalibur, as a parting gift, before he is conscripted into the army of Vortigern, King of the Solar (Antoni Cañellas Artigues), it is given with hope and compassion.

This is an enchanted story. Dressed in golden skirted uniforms, the army is somehow reminiscent of the Winkies of Oz. Their movements are choreographed in canons, with precision and power and often with impressive elevation. The Kingdom of the Solar is in conflict with the Kingdom of the Tides and when the story is taken to the sea, the opposing battalions ripple as waves whilst the Lady of the Lake (Heather Lehan) is utterly captivating as she swoops through them like a mermaid – one of the most stunning scenes of the piece.

Clearly then, this is not the familiar Merlin story of the court of King Arthur and Guinevere but an imagining of his beginning, allowing for even more invention. For the main part, this is an ensemble piece but in the rare pas de deux, there are some touching and tender scenes between Uther, the Prince of Solar (Filippo Di Villo) and the beauty on which his heart is set, Ygraine, Princess of the Tides (Rachael Gillespie). With the animosity between the two realms then, this has the potential to echo Romeo and Juliet, unless there can be an intervention.

The magic of the piece isn’t restricted to the romance. A fire breathing dragon becomes Merlin’s closest companion whilst he’s at his lowest ebb, allowing for some wonderful puppetry and the glittering costumes and Grant Olding’s soaring, cinematic score elevates this far above the ordinary.

The plot has the complexity of Greek tragedy and without careful attention to programme notes it has the potential to bewilder. More than content though to let this other-wordly tale of love enthral, it makes for a happy enchanted evening.

Runs until 20th September 2025, before continuing on tour