A season of five famous ballets from The Royal Ballet company is currently being screened at Cinema Nouveau theatres around South Africa.

The season launched with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in March, followed by Swan Lake in May, and Romeo and Juliet in June. The fourth production to be shown on the big screen is La Fille mal gardée (The Wayward Daughter), the beloved rural comedy from choreographer Frederick Ashton.

Conceived by Ashton as “…A life in the country of eternally late spring, a leafy pastorale of perpetual sunshine and the humming of bees…”, this quintessentially British production and one of The Royal Ballet’s most beloved works.

Inspired by Ashton’s love for the Suffolk countryside, it is based on an 1828 French ballet and the music was adapted by John Lanchbery from Ferdinand Herold’s original score. La Fille mal gardée was a resounding success on its premiere in 1960 and has remained a firm favourite in The Royal Ballet’s repertory.

La Fille also displays some of Ashton’s most virtuosic choreography – the youthful passion of Lise (danced by principal Natalia Osipova) and her lover, Colas (danced by Steven McRae), is expressed in a series of energetic pas de deux.

The ballet is also laced with good humour as a whirl of dancing chickens, grouchy guardians and halfwit suitors take to the stage. Ashton affectionately incorporated elements of national folk dance into his choreography, from a Lancashire clog dance to a traditional maypole dance, making La Fille mal gardée (despite its title) The Royal Ballet’s most emphatically English work. Osbert Lancaster’s colourful designs reinforce the robust wit of the production.

The story begins with the feisty Lise about to be married off by her over-protective mother, Widow Simone. Not wishing to marry the simple-witted Alain (danced by Paul Kay), Lise makes several attempts to run off with her true love, Colas. Fortunately, a summer thunderstorm proves the catalyst for the lovers’ eventual union as true love wins the day.

The in-cinema production is presented by former Royal Ballet Principal and Strictly Come Dancing judge, Darcey Bussell. View some video clips of The Royal Ballet’s performance of La Fille mal gardée here: https://youtu.be/c3cZK0MSrRo and https://youtu.be/el4z9bJDO4o

La Fille mal gardée releases on South African screens on Saturday, June 27 for four screenings only: at 7.30 pm on June 27, 2.30 pm on June 28, and 7.30 pm on July 1 and 2 at Cinema Nouveau theatres in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. Bookings are now open.

The running time is two hours and 30 minutes, with one interval after act one.

For booking information on the Royal Ballet’s La Fille mal gardée, visit www.cinemanouveau.co.za or sterkinekor.mobi or call TicketLine on 0861 Movies (668 437).

The final ballet in the current The Royal Ballet season to be screened at Cinema Nouveau is: The Winter’s Tale (08 August).