Northern Ballet: Gentleman Jack at Sadler’s Wells

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s groundbreaking new ballet explores the vibrant life of Anne Lister, 19^th-century Yorkshire landowner and businesswoman. Inspired by Sally Wainwright’s 2019 BBC One/HBO series (Wainwright is one of the show’s creative consultants), Gentleman Jack is a celebration of queerness and female empowerment, and a tribute to an inspirational woman widely understood to be “the first modern lesbian”.

After her death, the secret diaries of Lister, who became known as Gentleman Jack, were discovered and decoded, chronicling her passionate love affairs with various women. Gemma Coutts is extraordinary as the protagonist, embodying her self-assured authority as she confidently swaggers across the stage with a walking cane and top hat. Lister boldly defies societal expectations; she is assured in her sexuality, expressing it fearlessly and commanding the room with a striking presence. Surrounded by men, she taps her cane, and they all stand to attention.

Christopher Ash’s lighting and set design reflect the changing emotions and settings, as does Peter Salem’s emotive music. Lister’s first great love, Mariana, is first seen dancing formally with her male suitor, the music and movements constrained and serious. As Lister twirls her out of his arms, the actions become fluid and free, accompanied by a golden light and a joyous melody. Ochoa’s choreography subverts the heteronormative convention of the famous pas de deux by presenting the protagonist with the strength typically reserved for male dancers, while simultaneously maintaining a feminine elegance as she lifts and moves her female lover in various sensual sequences. It is an incredibly physically demanding performance.

The costume design and choreography are fantastically creative. As one watches Lister write in her diary, dancers in leotards covered in the coded language in which she wrote flood onto the stage. Her words literally come to life in front of her eyes, swirling and wiggling around her, even lifting her overhead as she takes strength and finds solace in her self-expression. There is a beautiful moment where the “chorus of words” carry Lister and her partner Ann Walker as they join in a symbolic marriage, veiled in white, united in the air, rising above a prejudicial world. The set mirrors the theme of literature, as bookcases double up as video screens, tracing the character’s journey and reflecting the changing seasons and passing of time.

Anne Lister defied 19^th-century society in many ways. Well-travelled and sexually liberated, she was a feminist trailblazer, and as the first major ballet to centre a queer female narrative, Gentleman Jack marks a pivotal moment for the art form. The show shatters the rigidly traditional gender conventions of the medium in a celebration of a queer icon.