May 26, 2020
Samara Downs as Myrtha in Giselle (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2019)
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Samara Downs as Myrtha in Giselle (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2019)
Samara Downs and Jonathan Payne in Enigma Variations, Birmingham Royal Ballet, October 2015. © Dave Morgan.
This version is let down by flimsy characterisations that reduce charming eccentricities to screwball antics. A notable exception is Samara Downs’ take on The Lady (Elgar’s wife), full-bodied and stirringly rendered. Downs looked every inch the Ashtonian ballerina here, thanks in large part to her expressive face and willowy arms sheathed in gossamer.
Samara Downs and Yasuo Atsuji in Lachlan Monaghan’s Summer, Autumn section of Seasons in Our World (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2019)
Samara Downs and Lachlan Monaghan in Hobson’s Choice (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2019)
Samara Downs, Lachlan Monaghan, Laura Purkiss, Rory Mackay and Delia Mathews in Hobson's Choice (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2019)
Laura Purkiss as Vickey Hobson, Mathias Dingman as Fred Beenstock, Lachlan Monaghan as Will Mossop, Samara Downs as Maggie Hobson, Rory Mackay as Albert Prosser, and Delia Mathews as Alice Hobon, in Hobson's Choice (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2019)
Céline Gittens, Samara Downs, Arancha Baselga and Laura Jane Gibson in Serenade (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2014)
Victoria Marr [centre], Samara Downs [right], Joseph Caley, Tyrone Singleton and Rory Mackay in In the Upper Room (Birmingham Royal Ballet)