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From the archive:
Akram Khan’s Giselle
Overview
“A triumph” (Evening Standard), “sensational” (The Stage), “staggeringly beautiful and utterly devastating” (The Sunday Express) – Akram Khan’s Giselle has been hailed as one of the most electrifying works of the past decade.
This bold reimagining of the romantic classic isn’t just something you watch – it’s something you feel: with every heart-breaking step of the story.
Set in a divided world of migrant Outcasts and exploitative Landlords, Giselle’s love for Albrecht leads to betrayal, heartbreak and vengeance beyond the grave. Can love endure even in death?
Akram Khan’s mesmerising choreography fuses classical ballet, classical Indian dance and contemporary movement.
With haunting visuals by Oscar-winner Tim Yip and a pulsating score by Vincenzo Lamagna, performed live by English National Ballet Philharmonic, this is ballet as you’ve never experienced before.
Whether seeing Giselle for the first time or making a return visit – you won’t forget it.
3 reasons to see
Reviews
Want to learn more?
Akram Khan’s Giselle: Trailer
Akram Khan’s Giselle: Ceremony (extract)
Akram Khan’s Giselle: The character of Giselle
Akram Khan’s Giselle: Migration (extract)
Akram Khan’s Giselle: The character of Myrtha
Meet the main characters of Akram Khan’s Giselle
Tamara Rojo and Akram Khan on this reimagined Giselle
The costumes of Akram Khan’s Giselle
Akram Khan’s Giselle: The Wilis (extract)
Akram Khan’s Giselle: Composer Vincenzo Lamagna
Akram Khan’s Giselle: Ballet meets kathak
Akram Khan’s Giselle: Hilarion and the Wilis (extract)
Akram Khan’s Giselle: The Wilis Entrance (extract)
Explore the story
Discover the plot
Act I
Giselle is one of a community of migrant garment factory workers (the Outcasts). Dispossessed of their jobs by the factory’s closure, and separated by a high wall from their hopes of livelihood and security, the Outcasts function as little more than exotic entertainment for the factory Landlords.
In Act I, the wealthy Albrecht disguises himself as an Outcast in order to visit his lover Giselle. But his presence is noted by Hilarion – Giselle’s would-be lover – a shape-changing ‘fixer’ who trades with and mimics the Landlords for his own and his community’s profit.
Albrecht’s wooing of Giselle is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the Landlords. Seeing his fiancée Bathilde among them, Albrecht tries to hide. Giselle recognizes the fine dress worn by Bathilde as the product of her own factory labour. The Outcasts dance for the Landlords until Albrecht and Hilarion disturb the Ceremony with their conflict.
Bathilde’s father confronts Albrecht, forcing him to return to Bathilde and to their world. When he submits and returns to Bathilde, Giselle is driven mad with grief. The Landlord gives a command, and the Outcasts encircle Giselle. When the crowd disperses, her lifeless body is revealed. Denying any responsibility, the Landlords retreat beneath the Wall.
Act II
A wrecked, abandoned ‘ghost’ factory is revealed – a place where Giselle and her female co-workers have labored, and many have died. Here Albrecht, grieving for Giselle, confronts and condemns the Landlords.
Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis (ghosts of factory workers who seek revenge for the wrongs done to them in life), enters, driving Albrecht away. She summons Giselle from her lifeless body into the realm of death, to join the company of the remorseless Wilis.
Hilarion enters to mourn at Giselle’s grave. The Wilis surround him, demanding retribution for Giselle’s death, and Hilarion is brutally killed.
Albrecht returns and becomes aware of Giselle’s presence. The lovers are reunited on the threshold between life and death. Breaking the cycle of violence – and defying Myrtha’s command – Giselle forgives Albrecht and releases him into life.
The Wilis depart with Giselle, and Albrecht, now an outcast from his own community, is left alone by the Wall.
Credits
