Lady in a Top Hat

Anne Lister was a local Yorkshire woman of the early nineteenth century; the owner of agricultural land and coalmines who has been described as “the first modern lesbian” and known as Gentleman Jack. She was unconventional, a shrewd woman of business, and enjoyed an astonishing sex life, which was revealed when the cipher in which she wrote her diaries was decoded in the twentieth century. The most original aspect of choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s production is the device of having a chorus of Words in the form of dancers, clad in paper-coloured leotards covered in symbols to represent the secret language of the personal diaries. Employing this abstract element lifts the ballet away from an earthbound narrative form into a parallel perspective. The choreographer has a notable gift ...