Birmingham Royal Ballet: “Black Sabbath - The Ballet”
Gabriel Anderson, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Black Sabbath - The Ballet. Photo: Johan Persson
Heavy metal and ballet? Yes, you’ve read correctly: Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) just premiered Black Sabbath – The Ballet, a three-act ballet inspired by Birmingham’s pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath is probably Birmingham’s most popular cultural export. Its iconic status in Birmingham inspired BRB’s director Carlos Acosta, who is planning a trilogy of ballets dedicated to the city: “I thought that Black Sabbath and the combination of heavy metal and ballet was bonkers enough to be worthy to be explored.” Speaking at a livestream rehearsal on YouTube, Acosta explained that he wanted to see how these two opposite worlds could coexist in harmony and in ballet form.
Carlos Acosta: “I’m working class – I am Black Sabbath.”
Like many people in the dance world, Acosta is trying to find a wider audience for ballet. But his personal history gives him a special insight into this challenge. The world-famous former principal dancer was born into an impoverished family in Cuba. His father was a truck driver, his mother had health problems and as the youngest child of eleven, he grew up without toys and sometimes even without shoes. In an interview about Black Sabbath – The Ballet with The Guardian, Acosta said: “I’m working class – I am Black Sabbath. I’m trying to do the same things Black Sabbath achieved. The essence is the same. I understand why the music means so much to the fans, and why they crave it and how relevant they are. ‘War Pigs,’ man, that’s the story of humanity right now.”
Tony Iommi’s Blessing
Acosta’s unusual idea got the blessing of Black Sabbath’s founding member Tony Iommi and sparked a massive response: tickets sold out seven months before the premiere, making Black Sabbath – The Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet’s fastest ever selling show. And it is bringing a new audience to the theatre: many of the ticket holders have never been to the ballet before.
Marc Hayward and artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet, Black Sabbath - The Ballet. Photo: Johan Persson
From Black Sabbath’s Brutal Beginnings to the Ballet Stage
Heavy metal legends Tony Iommi, (guitarist), Bill Ward (drummer), Geezer Butler (bassist) and Ozzy Osbourne (vocalist) founded Black Sabbath in Birmingham in 1968. The band’s members were working in the city’s factories and slaughterhouses. Three years earlier, 17-year-old guitarist Tony Iommi ‘s right hand had gotten caught in a machine at a sheet metal factory. The machine tore off the tips of two of his fingers. But the young man was determined to continue playing the guitar. Iommi constructed fingertips out of dishwashing soap bottle caps and loosened his guitar’s strings so that there would be less pressure on his fingers: the special sound of the heavy metal band was born. The band’s songs have horror-inspired lyrics, and the music is scary, often using the tritone, a restless, dissonant musical interval that was avoided or even considered evil in church and classical music over the course of several centuries. For the ballet, lead composer Christopher Austin worked directly with Iommi on the arrangement and the orchestration of some of Black Sabbath’s legendary songs. Together with composers Marko Nyberg and Sun Keting, Austin added some new, Black Sabbath inspired compositions.
Celine Gittins, Tyrone Singleton, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Black Sabbath - The Ballet. Photo: Johan Persson
What to Expect
The show has three acts, each created by a different choreographer: Pontus Lidberg (lead choreographer), Raúl Reinoso and Cassi Abranches. There is no plot, each act is dedicated to a different theme: “Act I: Heavy Metal Ballet” explores the influence of the sound of Birmingham factories on the sound of heavy metal, “Act II: The Band” focuses on the band, including voice overs of its members and a singing performance by principal dancer Lachlan Monaghan. “Act II: Everybody is a Fan” is about the band’s fans. There is a heavy metal guitarist on stage throughout the show, but on opening night, Tony Iommi brought the house down with a one-off surprise performance of “Paranoid” on stage with the dancers. The show opened on 23 September 2023 at Birmingham Hippodrome and will go on tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal and to London’s Sadler’s Wells. Tickets are sold out, but people are encouraged to check for returns.
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