The Royal Ballet announces that Principal dancer Natalia Osipova will make her West End debut as Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova in The Standard of Living, a new play by James Graham based on the life of John Maynard Keynes. Lopokova was a celebrated dancer with Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes and was considered the embodiment of the new era of modernist ballet.
Rory Kinnear stars as radical economist and member of the Bloomsbury group, John Maynard Keynes, husband to Lydia Lopokova, lover to Duncan Grant and friend of Virgina Woolf. Regarded as one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers. Keynes became the singular driving force behind arts funding in Britain and built a new and fairer financial model, that ultimately helped reshape the Western World in the aftermath of the First World War. Keynes and Lopokova were also instrumental in the establishment of British Ballet, setting up The Camargo Society which supported the early careers of British dance pioneers; Ninette de Valois, Marie Rambert and Frederick Ashton. He was also instrumental in bringing the Sadlers Wells Ballet, now The Royal Ballet, to the Royal Opera House in 1946.
Directed by multi-award winner Nicholas Hytner (The History Boy’s, One Man, Two Guvnors, GIANT) with set design by Olivier Award winner Bob Crowley (GIANT, The Inheritance, An American in Paris), The Standard of Living will run for 12 weeks from 21 September – 12 December at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. During this period Osipova will also perform her scheduled performances with The Royal Ballet of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. However she will no longer perform in MacMillan’s Song of The Earth, part of the Visionaries programme as previously announced.
Natalia Osipova comments:
“It’s a fantastic honour to be making my West End debut in The Standard of Living with such an incredible line-up of creatives and performers. Lydia Lopokova was a pivotal figure in ballet history, bridging Diaghilev’s legendary Ballets Russes and the development of British ballet last century, and I can’t wait to explore her character.”
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet adds:
“I’m thrilled that Natalia will be making her West End debut in The Standard of Living. She has excelled in many of our most powerful dramatic ballets and recently surprised audiences with the range of her acting ability in her dance theatre work The Exhibition, presented in the Linbury Theatre earlier this Season. Natalia is perfectly cast as Lydia Lopokova, and I look forward to audiences experiencing her distinctive artistry in what promises to be a remarkable role.”
Nicholas Hytner commented:
“I’ve followed James Graham’s brilliant career with admiration and excitement since I commissioned his break-out hit ’This House’ for the National Theatre in 2012. This wonderful play presses all my buttons so I couldn’t be happier to resume our collaboration, and to work again with the great Rory Kinnear, and to bring the astonishing Natalia Osipova to the West End.”
The Standard of Living will be produced in the West End by Brian & Dayna Lee and Nicholas Hytner with Len Blavatnik & Danny Cohen for Access Entertainment. Mark Rubinstein is Executive Producer and General Management is by Short Street Productions Ltd.