2001-2005
2005
Ghosts
Premiere: Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London. September 2005
Commissioned by the Royal Opera House and based on Ibsen’s play.
Music: Dave Maric – specially commissioned for harp, cello, marimba, bass clarinet and viola.
Set and Costumes: Jon Bausor
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 7
Length: 65mins
full details video gallery microsite
“There is perfect logic to reframe (Ghosts) in dance…her re-structuring is deft…her choreography is wonderfully illustrative of character… she has let the drama bleed through the dance.”
Telegraph 2005
Orpheus and Persephone
Premiere: Ballett Basel, Theater Basel, Switzerland. May 2005
Music: Peteris Vasks – 4th String Quartet
Set: Heindrich Nagel
Costumes: Heidi de Raad
Cast: 9
Length: 30mins
Viatore
Premiere: Images of Dance, UK tour 2005.
Music: Peteris Vasks – Viatore
Costumes: Jean-Marc Puissant
Cast: 12
Length: 13mins approx
2004
Venetian Requiem
Premiere: The Royal Ballet, Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London. 2004
Music: Judith Bingham - Specially commissioned for Saxophone and Counter-tenor
Costumes: Jon Bausor
Cast: 2 (Edward Watson and Lauren Cuthbertson)
Length: 8 mins
“For pure quality, Cathy Marston’s duet, Venetian Requiem had no competition. Subtitled Death by Water, Marston’s subtle and sophisticated dance language to a commissioned score by Judith Bingham for saxophone and countertenor, wove a web of watery grief. Choreographing the elements is a gift from God. Diaghilev would be mad about it.”
Sunday Express 2005
Dividing Silence
Premiere: Northern Ballet Theatre, Grand Theatre Leeds. May 2004
Music: Martinu – Double Concerto
Set and Costumes: Jean-Marc Puissant
Cast: 12
Length: 25 mins approx
“She is one of the hottest young choreographers around... now Marston has come up with an important new abstract work for Northern Ballet Theatre. An epic of pure dance and an exultant kaleidoscope of moves, Dividing Silence is a finely crafted piece for six couples that shows Marston's gift for sculpting the human form into incredible shapes.”
The Guardian 2004
To view a video of the complete work please contact Cathy Marston to request a private link.
Dichterliebe
Premiere: The Ensemble Group, Scottish Tour 2004.
Music: Robert Schumann – Dichterliebe
Cast: 8
Length: 28mins
“Cathy Marston’s exquisite Dichterliebe, set to Schumann’s song cycle of the same name, had a light, almost pastoral feel. Following the various stages of a poet’s life, as he and his partner move through the ups and downs of romance, the work had real depth of feeling.”
The Scotsman, 2004
before the tempest…after the storm
Premiere: Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London. 2004
Two duets that form a prequel and sequel to Shakespeare’s Tempest - Caliban and Sycorax, Prospero and Ariel. Commissioned by the Royal Opera House and filmed by the BBC.
Music: Jules Maxwell – specially commissioned.
Set and Costumes: Jon Bausor
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 4
Length: 30mins
full details video showreel video full-work gallery
“Marston rises to the challenges… (she) has come up with a little poetic gem… Rich in pain and tenderness, expressed in imaginative shapes and movements.”
Dance Europe 2004
Asyla
Premiere: Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London. 2004
Commissioned by the Royal Opera House.
Music: Thomas Ades – Asyla
Set and Costumes: Jon Bausor
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 5
2003
Broken Fiction
Premiere: Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House. November 2003.
Commissioned by the Royal Opera House.
Music: Dave Maric – Broken Fiction
Set and Costumes: Anthony Lamble
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 2 (Cindy Jourdain and Johannes Stepanek)
“What bliss it is to see new choreography that not only fulfils your expectations but surpasses them… not only does she use fine technicians but she has an instinct for and an understanding of the craft and – the cherry on the top – she has ideas.”
Dance Europe 2003
Non Exeunt
Premiere: George Piper Dances (aka Ballet Boyz) Sadlers Wells, London. 2003
Ophelia and Lady Macbeth meet…
Music: John Cage
Design: Jon Bausor
Cast: 2
Length: 13mins
Summer Twinnings
Premiere: Royal Ballet School, Royal Opera House, London. 2003
Music: Prokofiev – A Summer Day
Costumes: Johannes Stepanek
Cast: 8
Length: 18mins
“Marston’s Summer Twinings, set to Prokofiev’s breezy A Summer’s Day, also incorporates personal trademarks. Most notable is her kaleidoscopic manner of exploring facets of a relationship.”
The Times, 2003
Stateless
Premiere: Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London. 2003.
Commissioned by the Royal Opera House
Music: Rachmaninoff – Variations on a theme of Chopin
Set and Costumes: Jon Bausor
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 6
Length: 27mins
“Marston displays a fine eye for the details of the limbo these dancers inhabit - as their limbs shiver with apprehension, as they blindly cling to each other, as they sicken and fall. Throughout the artful orchestration of their dancing, she maintains the illusion that these are people who have been thrown together, and wrenched apart, by the forces of history.”
The Guardian, 2003
Sophie
Premiere: Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London. 2003.
Commissioned by the Royal Opera House and inspired by William Styron’s novel, Sophie’s Choice.
Music: Jules Maxwell – specially commissioned.
Set and Costumes: Jon Bausor
Video: Terry Braun
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 2 (Antonia Francheski and Karl Sullivan)
Length: 35mins
“Instead, her half-hour duet serves up impressions of Sophie, fleshed out through images that slip and slide across the original material. Marston delves into the cracks of the character as if she were shining a torch into shadowy corners (…) as close to glimpsing someone’s soul as movement can get.”
The Times, January 2004
2002
Between Shadows
Premiere: Royal Ballet dancers, Clore Studio Upstairs, Royal Opera House, 2002
Music: Philip Chambon – specially commissioned
Costumes: Elizabeth McGorian
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 7
Length: 30mins approx
Facing Viv
Premiere: English National Ballet, UK tour. 2002
Inspired by the relationship of TS Elliot and his first wife, Vivien.
Music: John Adams, Gnarly Buttons
Set and Costumes: Anthony Lamble
Cast: 6
Length: 20mins approx
“Marston is a fast rising star of British choreography. (Her) choreography is characterised by the deployment of the whole body to express an idea; she uses the neck, abdominals and back the way most choreographers use arms and legs. Marston’s debut for English National Ballet is an emotional holocaust, which deserves a larger stage and wider audience.”
Dance International 2002
Pride and Prejudice – First Impressions
Premiere: Ballet Central, UK tour 2002.
Music: Carl Davis – specially commissioned
Costumes: Kate Ford
Cast: 13
Length: 13mins
Unstrung Tension
Premiere: Royal Ballet dancers, Clore Studio Upstairs, Royal Opera House, 2002
Music: Carl Vine – Inner World
Cast: 5
Length: 12mins
“…Ambitious in scale, it proved she has fine-tuned her skills to mature perfection…The movement shapes had the rare virtue of interesting the mind and eye.”
The Independent, 2002
2001
Three Words Unspoken
Premiere: Royal Ballet, Clore Studio Upstairs, Royal Opera House, London, 2001
Music: Constant Lambert
Cast: 2 (Tamara Roja and Brian Maloney)
Length: 12mins
Adrenalin Blush
Premiere: Northern Youth Dance Company. UK tour. 2001
Music: John Williams
Cast: 6
Length: 15mins
The Ballet Shoes
Premiere: London Children’s Ballet. Peacock Theatre, London. May 2001
Based on the novel by Noel Streitfield.
Music: Raymond Warren – specially commissioned
Costumes: Kate Ford
Cast: 50 (8-14 year olds)
Length: 90min (2 acts)
“Cathy Marston's first full-length evening piece and rather superb I thought. Bravos all round.”
Ballet.co.uk (Bruce Marriot), May 2001
Traces
Premiere: Royal Ballet dancers, Clore Studio Upstairs, Royal Opera House, February 2001.
Music: Yann Tierson
Costumes: Ben Meyer
Light: Simon Bennison
Cast: 9 (variable)
Length: 30mins approx
“Marston’s Traces was pure heaven from start to finish. Each moment of unrequited love, confusion, friendship, subtle humour and tension exquisitely evolved in a superb display of fluid, dynamic choreography.”
Dance Europe, 2001
Rosemary for Remembrance
Premiere: Images of Dance, UK tour, 2001
Music: Faure – 1st violin sonata
Cast: 20
Length: 17mins
