As someone who had never experienced a live ballet performance before, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Cape Town City Ballet’s Orpheus in the Underworld. A theatrical production with no words, no dialogue and no script – just movement, music and the human body. It sounds almost impossible until you’re sitting in the audience watching it unfold. Then you realise this is storytelling at its purest, and it is utterly extraordinary.
Main Image: Kirstél Paterson as Eurydice and Leusson Muniz as Pluto
Artists and Athletes
Cape Town City Ballet’s performers are not just artists – they are elite athletes who seem to exist outside the normal rules of human movement. Gravity appears optional. The human body, it turns out, is capable of things most of us simply cannot fathom.
It’s also something that simply cannot be fully appreciated through a screen. Watching ballet live, you become acutely aware of the height of the jumps, the speed of the turns and even the sound of ballet shoes sweeping across the stage. The physicality becomes tangible, making what these dancers do feel all the more astonishing. It felt like I sat gawping in awe the whole way through.
Every leap, lift and sustained balance feels impossible, yet they make it look effortless, expressive and breathtakingly beautiful all at the same time.
A Mythological Story Gets a Fun Makeover
Choreographed by celebrated South African choreographer Veronica Paeper, this production takes the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and transports it to a stylish 1930s world of flapper glamour, Mafia intrigue, poolside antics and a decidedly decadent Underworld nightclub.
L: Leusson Muniz with L-R Tamar, Moross, Hannah Ward, Chiara Kleiner, Genevieve
R: Kirstél Paterson as Calliope
The transformation from ancient mythology to this wickedly playful retelling is inspired. Peter Cazalet’s costumes and sets are magnificent – visually rich, full of period detail and delightfully unexpected – there’s even a hot-air balloon!
Every leap, lift and sustained balance feels impossible, yet they make it look effortless, expressive and breathtakingly beautiful.
Orpheus in the Underworld is Utterly Joyful
What sets this production apart is its humour and sense of fun. This is comedy ballet at its very best, proving that ballet can be playful, witty and wonderfully accessible. In the absence of dialogue or a script, the story unfolds through animated gestures, expressive faces, movement and, of course, the music itself. What I found so remarkable was how clearly every joke, emotion and interaction was conveyed without a single spoken word.
L: Luke Wragg as Mercury
R: Hannah Ward as Calliope
The performance is filled with mischief and larger-than-life characters, none more delightful than Calliope, Orpheus’s mother, whose gloriously tipsy nightclub scene – performed en pointe, no less – is a masterclass in comedic timing.
The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Offenbach’s iconic score live, adds another layer of magic to the evening. Much of the storytelling is carried by the music, and the live accompaniment, expertly led by conductor Brandon Phillips, elevates the entire production.
The Perfect Entry Point Into Ballet
Warm, spectacular and thoroughly entertaining, Orpheus in the Underworld is as perfect for first-timers as it is for devoted ballet lovers. It proves that ballet can be every bit as accessible and entertaining as it is technically astonishing, and I guarantee you will enjoy every minute of it.
Running at the Artscape Opera House until 21 June, with tickets from R250 via Webtickets or Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695. There are only six performances – so book now.
Photography by Lindsey Appolis
