Sir Peter Wright’s production of Giselle premiered in the summer of 1965 at the Stuttgart Ballet. The performances caused a sensation, and its success brought his production into the repertoires of many of the great ballet companies throughout the world, forever linking Wright with one of the most beloved romantic full-length classics.
However, it almost never came to pass. Having just created a new production of Swan Lake for Stuttgart Ballet, Director John Cranko felt that the company’s next full-length ballet should be Giselle, especially because their previous production had been rather a disaster. Cranko approached Wright, then ballet master, to mount the ballet. While honored to have been trusted with this project, Wright initially protested as he’d never performed the ballet, let alone enjoyed watching it! Eventually, he agreed to Cranko’s request, and given carte blanche, Wright left for London for six weeks of research. Working with the esteemed Ballet Historian Ivor Guest, as well as Cyril Beaumont’s book, The Ballet Called Giselle, Wright’s passion for the romantic classic grew the closer he got to the original choreography and story behind the ballet.
His breakthrough came with the revelation of Giselle’s original death. In the productions that Wright had seen around the world, Giselle had died of a broken heart at the end of Act I. This never sat well with Wright; he thought it was overly dramatic. It also made her burial in the woods even more senseless. This, though, was not the original story! In an account of the first performance of Giselle at the Paris Opera Ballet, she had gone mad, taken Albrecht’s sword, and plunged it into her heart. Here now was not only a death that made sense, but one that would prevent her burial in hallowed grounds in a Church cemetery, forcing her mother to bury Giselle in the woods and exposing her spirit to the malevolent Wilis.
With this revelation, Wright found his connection and inspiration, leading him to bring further characterizations with the other principal characters throughout the ballet. Albrecht transformed from a ‘sloppy’ Prince to a young virile man looking to experience life before being forced to marry the spoiled Countess Bathilde, but who nevertheless genuinely falls in love with Giselle. Hilarion became a tragic hero, in love with a woman whose heart belongs to another, his grief and love leading him to Giselle’s grave and his untimely death.