Brisbane Lions help Queensland Ballet take Delibes’ classic into a whole new league.

Playhouse, QPAC

May 3, 2014

The Queensland Ballet have created a wonderful experience for the whole family with their new adaptation of Coppélia. With interactive storytelling prior to the performance and Q&A sessions with the dancers after selected shows, Coppélia should captivate audiences of all ages.

The ballet follows two bickering young lovers living in a small village. Swanhilda catches her sweetheart Franz blowing kisses to the doctor’s daughter, the mysterious and beautiful Coppélia. She is outraged, though neither she nor Franz realise that Coppélia is actually a lifelike doll. When the sweethearts sneak into the doctor’s house one night, they discover that all is not as it seems.

Choreographer Greg Horsman has revitalised this classic with fresh choreography and a brand new setting. Initially set in a Polish village, Horsman’s adaptation takes place in Hahndorf, a German settlement in South Australia in the nineteenth century. A distinct Australian flavour runs through the entire piece.

Hugh Colman’s set design was markedly Australian, incorporating tall white gum trees, corrugated iron roofing and rusted water towers. A large, warbling magpie sat proudly on Coppélia’s balcony and the silhouette of a windmill was...