Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Ballet and Opera Principal Julia Rausing Trust with the generous support of Aline Foriel-destezet, Season Principal
Generous philanthropic support from The Sargent Charitable Trust, The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund and The Royal Ballet and Opera Patrons
In memory of Ms Anne Peet
Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor generously supported by Dame Tina Taylor DBE
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen
A co-production between The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada
Direction and Choreography
Wayne McGregor
Music
Max Richter
© 2022 Decca Publishing, a division of Universal Music Publishing Limited
Creative consultant
Margaret Atwood
Conductor
Koen Kessels
Set designer
We Not I
Costume designer
Gareth Pugh
Lighting designer
Lucy Carter
Film designer
Ravi Deepres
Dramaturgy
Uzma Hameed
Sound System Designer
Chris Ekers
Staging and Assistants to the Choreographer
Amanda Eyles, Jenny Tattersall, Mikaela Polley, Jessica Wright
Snowman/Jimmy
Joseph Sissens
Oryx
Fumi Kaneko
Crake
William Bracewell
Toby
Melissa Hamilton
Zeb
Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød
Ren
Sae Maeda
Amanda
Leticia Dias
Adam
Giacomo Rovero
Blanco
Gary Avis
Blackbeard
Milan Yep
Painballer 1
Téo Dubreuil
Painballer 2
Aiden O'Brien
Prologue, Crakers, Pigoons
Artists of The Royal Ballet, Students of The Royal Ballet School
Player 1
Melissa Hamilton
Player 2
Fumi Kaneko
Player 3
Sae Maeda
Player 4
Leticia Dias
Player 5
Joseph Sissens
Player 6
William Bracewell
Player 7
Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød
Player 8
Giacomo Rovero
Player 9
Gary Avis
Player 10
Marianna Tsembenhoi
Player 11
Ashley Dean
Player 12
Nadia Mullova-Barley
Player 13
Sumina S. Sasaki
Player 14
Amelia Townsend
Player 15
Liam Boswell
Player 16
Harry Churches
Player 17
Francisco Serrano
Player 18
Joshua Junker
Pigoons, Craker Prototype
Artists of The Royal Ballet, Students of The Royal Ballet School
Descendant Blackbeard
Marco Masciari
Descendant Ren
Ashley Dean
Descendant Amanda
Marianna Tsembenhoi
Descendants, Descendant Children, Pigoons
Artists of The Royal Ballet, Students of The Royal Ballet School
Ancestor Snowman-the-Jimmy
Joseph Sissens
Ancestor Toby
Melissa Hamilton
Ancestor Zeb
Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød
Ancestor Amanda
Leticia Dias
Ancestor Adam
Giacomo Rovero
Ancestor Ren
Sae Maeda
Ancestor Crake
William Bracewell
Ancestor Oryx
Fumi Kaneko
Orchestra
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Concert Master
Sergey Levitin
Text Readings
Tilda Swinton, Josh Davidson with special thanks to Tif Loehnis
Vocal Recordings
St Wendel of all the Altman’s Community Chorale, Tenebrae
Director
Kevin O’Hare CBE
Founder
Dame Ninette de Valois OM CH DBE
Founder Choreographer
Sir Frederick Ashton OM CH CBE
Founder Music Director
Constant Lambert
Prima Ballerina Assoluta
Dame Margot Fonteyn DBE
In the aftermath of a global pandemic, a traumatised Snowman/Jimmy believes he is the last human being alive...
In the aftermath of a global pandemic, a traumatised Snowman/Jimmy believes he is the last human being alive. He has led the Crakers – a peace-loving new race of hominid engineered by his one-time best friend Crake – out of the Paradice Dome, where they were created, and into the newly depopulated world. Feeling himself to be an interloper among Crake’s perfect people, he has dubbed himself ‘Snowman’ after the Abominable Snowman. He is haunted by fragments of memory about Crake and also the beautiful Oryx, Crake’s partner and the love of Jimmy’s life. Both are now dead.
Meanwhile, there are other survivors: Toby, a former member of the eco-pacifist God’s Gardeners, who hopes her friends may also be alive, especially her secret love, Zeb; Ren, an exotic dancer; Amanda, an artist and Ren’s best friend; and the Painballers, a group of violent criminals led by Toby’s former abuser, Blanco, who have escaped incarceration in the aftermath of the wipe-out.
A game of extinction and survival inspired by the computer game played by Crake and Jimmy as teenagers. As players ‘choose their skins’, we see the communities that inhabited the pre-apocalyptic dystopian world. The God’s Gardeners create their own sanctuary where Adam, their leader, preaches against materialism. Scientists play god, the violent CorpseCorps suppress dissent, and the MADDADDAM resistance disrupt. Time scrolls forward and back as encounters between players show glimpses of characters’ past lives in the years before the wipe-out. Amidst it all, Crake has a vision of a better world and creates first the Crakers and then the BlyssPluss pill – a drug that induces euphoria, but also contains the virus that will destroy humanity in the catastrophe that the Gardeners have foretold as the ‘Waterless Flood’. At the climax of the game, the fates of Oryx, Crake and Jimmy are decided, and Act II ends where Act I began.
In the future, some generations after the Waterless Flood, the brave new world is peopled by evolved Crakers – the result of cross-breeding between Crake’s new hominids and the homo sapiens survivors of the wipe-out. As Crake had hoped, the Crakers live in harmony with nature and each other. Even romantic rivalry has been programmed out of them and reproduction occurs seasonally in a communal ritual. Yet, whilst Crake had tried to rid his species of symbolic thinking, the Crakers now honour their human ancestors through creating effigies and enacting fragments of their histories. The stories that were told to them first by Jimmy, and later by Toby, have evolved into the beginnings of a scripture in which Oryx and Crake are deities. And among the artefacts that have been preserved from the old world is a gun.
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Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation, a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales (Company number 480523) Charity Registered (Number 211775)