La Fille mal gardée, The Royal Ballet
Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov in The Royal Ballet's La Fille mal gardée © 2025 Alice Pennefather
It would be fascinating to read an article on the idyllic portrayal of rural life. How artists depicted the countryside as a simplistic haven of rolling fields and beauty away from the hubbub and depravity of city life. The less said about the hard toil and poverty of working on a farm all day the better.
This thought struck me while watching The Royal Ballet’s La Fille mal gardée, Frederick Ashton’s beloved 1960 recreation of Jean Dauberval’s 1789 ballet. The work is set in a quaint countryside town, where locals dance around maypoles and joyfully scythe hay, and the worst thing to happen is mild harassment by a handful of chickens (no, really!). Osbert Lancaster’s quaint, painterly designs add to the fantasy with each act opening with a storybook-style front curtain featuring the work’s title, welcoming us into Ashton’s fictional Suffolk.
Fille’s story is a simple one. Lise (played by Marianela Nuñez) wants to marry Colas (Vadim Muntagirov). However her mother, Widow Simone (Thomas Whitehead) wants her to marry the rich but bumbling Alain (Luca Acri). The ballet’s joy lies in this simple narrative, with much of the work given over to moments of pure dance. Most famous is the Clog Dance, which Whitehead performed with much glee, great comic timing and humorous asides that reached us high up in the amphitheatre.
Marianela Nuñez and Thomas Whitehead in The Royal Ballet's La Fille mal gardée © 2025 Alice Pennefather
Once an exclusive pairing, this was a rare outing for Nuñez and Muntagirov (who now understandably favours dancing with fiancée Fumi Kaneko). Their partnership is renowned for their perfection of ballet technique and the audience greeted them with loud applause during their entrances, and stamping in the upper levels during their extended curtain calls. Nuñez always radiates an unmatched level of happiness and love for her artform on stage, and this is what makes her such a brilliant Lise. This romantic comedy’s heroine is cheeky and joyful as she sneaks kisses with Colas behind her mother’s back, jokingly tries to strangle her mother in her sleep and unenthusiastically churns butter (understandable). It’s a role easily suited to Nuñez’s sunny disposition.
As Colas, Muntagirov was a hopeless romantic, bemused and besotted in equal measure by his beau. His technical prowess (his nickname is Vadream for a reason) was in full force during Ashton’s tricky choreography. I was once told to watch the feet to fully appreciate Ashton and it transformed my understanding of his work. The Royal Ballet’s Founder Choreographer and creator of the ‘English style’ of ballet’s approach is almost swan like: elegant top lines with feet working hard under the surface. Muntagirov (and also Luca Acri, whose Alain was a scene-stealing comedic triumph) performed complex sequences with lightness, neatness and ease.
Luca Acri as Alain in The Royal Ballet's La Fille mal gardée © 2025 Alice Pennefather
As a work, there is significant imbalance between Fille’s two acts. Act 1 is home to all the talking-point moments (dancing chickens, clogs, maypoles, Colas and Lise’s ribbon and grand duets), making Act 2 feel slow by comparison. It wraps up the story with a quick change of heart from Widow Simone, but otherwise lacks the efficiently wrapped package of hit after hit that is Act 1.
Dare I say this could be successfully condensed into a pocket-rocket one act ballet?
And with that ballet sacrilege, I’ll let myself out to gallivant amongst the chickens.
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