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Carol Ann Duffy to write ballet

14.08.12 | Katie Allen

Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy is writing her first ballet, based on the fairytale Rapunzel.
 
The production is a commission by Sadler’s Wells in London from choreographer Liv Lorent and is described as dance theatre rather than conventional ballet, according to the Guardian.
 
"It's the dream team," said Emma Gladstone, artistic programmer and producer
at Sadler's Wells. "Liv Lorent has been thinking about this project for some time, and when we first talked about it these are the people she really wanted—and amazingly we've got them all."
 
Rapunzel, which will be aimed at a family audience, will follow the original plot of the Brothers Grimm tale, about a couple forced to give away their longed-for only child to a witch, who locks her in a tower with neither stairs nor door. Famously, a handsome prince climbs her long hair.
 
Duffy said: "Fairy tales are strange and familiar, frightening and reassuring, and provide a map of childhood which we can use as adults to remember who we are . . . Their retelling and reinterpretation is part of the lifeblood of literature."
 
Rapunzel opens at the Durham book festival in October and then will tour, coming to the main Sadler’s Wells stage in March 2013.

• ballet
• Carol Ann Duffy
• Katie Allen
• Rapunzel
• Sadler's Wells