Asphodel Meadows sounds like a character in Gone with the Wind. ‘I do declare, Miss Asphodel, – you’re pretty as a peach in that gown.’
Botanists will recognise an asphodel as a hardy herbaceous perennial; for members of The Ancient World Breakfast Club it will evoke the Fields of Asphodel, that part of the Underworld assigned to souls that are not good enough for the Elysian Fields or bad enough to be sent to Tartarus.
Asphodel Meadows is the title of a 2010 ballet choreographed by Liam Scarlett set to Francis Poulenc’s Double Piano Concerto. I saw it at Covent Garden yesterday and its title was appropriate – it is not especially good nor is it any way bad. For twenty-five minutes some sixteen dancers perform rather complicated moves more akin to gymnastics than ballet.
The next ballet was much more pleasing and has been in the Royal Ballet repertoire since 1961. Yesterday was its 117th performance. The Two Pigeons has choreography by Frederick Ashton, music by André Messager, and tells the story of two lovers. The young man leaves his girlfriend for a gypsy girl. Her gypsy boyfriend takes exception to this and the young man returns to his original young lady with his tail between his legs. The story is a delight with some beautiful dancing varying from spectacular gypsy ensembles to tender pas de deux and solos. I enjoyed every moment. It also has something that I have never seen before: two live pigeons. When the lovers part at the end of Act I a single pigeon flies off the stage. At the end the boyfriend returns with it on his shoulder and it sits on the back of a chair as they are reunited. Another pigeon flies to join it at the end and you’d have to have a heart of stone not to shed a little tear.
