‘Still Life’ at the penguin café

Birmingham Royal Ballet: Rachel Peppin as a Great Auk; photo: Bill Cooper

MUSIC Simon Jeffes
DESIGNS Hayden Griffin
LIGHTING John B. Read

My first piece for The Royal Ballet after joining as Resident Choreographer and something of a touchstone. Penguin drew on the eclectic and wildly original music of Simon Jeffes and his Penguin Café Orchestra, and with it’s early theme of conservation and concern for the planet not only caught the zeitgeist, but has continued to feature in the repertory of a number of companies world wide, and to seem even more prophetic, as the Earth moves towards an existential crisis.

An early film of the ballet saw the piece move into the realm of education too, where it has influenced generations of young people and continues to generate interest in the work and its themes.